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Preface
srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:
srI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
I worship the glorious guru paramparai which starts with sriman nArAyaNan, has
nAthamuni and yAmunAchAriar in the middle and ends with my Acharyan.
This divine slOkam was rendered by kUrathAzhwAn to glorify our guru paramparai.
According to him, asmadhAchArya means emperumAnAr because emperumAnAr was
his AchAryan. But in general, asmadhAchArya means ones own AchAryan.
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Our dharisanam is called emperumAnAr dharisanam by namperumAL as maNavALa
mAmunigaL identifies in upadhEsa rathina mAlai. It was emperumAnAr who re-
established the sanAthana dharmam (eternal way of life) during his life time. He took
the message from his predecessors nAthamuni, ALavandhAr, etc and presented it to
everyone in a very simple manner.
Guru and AchArya are synonyms. Guru means one who clears the ignorance. AchArya
means one who has learnt sAsthram, follows it himself and also makes others follow the
same. Guru paramparai means unbroken lineage of AchAryas. Our srivaishnava guru
paramparai starts with none other than sriman nArAyaNan himself as we see in this
lakshminAtha samArambhAm slOkam. It is out of the unbounded mercy of sriman
nArAyaNan, he himself takes up the responsibility of clearing the ignorance in the minds
of samsAris (jIvAthmAs who are bound in this material world) to rescue them and give
them the ever lasting blissful life in paramapadham. So he became the first AchArya in
our guru paramparai and taught the valuable meanings in sAsthram.
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This is a humble effort from adiyen to discuss our glorious guru paramaparai as
explained in 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam (written by pinbazhAgiya perumAL
jeeyar), charamOpAya nirNayam (written by nAyanAr AchAn piLLai), yathIndhra
pravaNa prabhAvam (written by piLLai lOkam jeeyar) and other granthams. Dr MA
Venkatakrishnan swamy’s vAzhvum vAkkum and Puthur krishnaswamy iyengar’s
AchAryargaL vaibhavam were very handy references in writing these articles. adiyen is
also very grateful to all the grantha kAlakshEpa AchAryas who imparted this valuable
sampradhAyam knowledge to adiyen.
Email: sarathy.thothathri@gmail.com
pramEyam (goal) - http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) - http://srivaishnavagranthams.wordpress.com
pramAthA (preceptors) - http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com
Adi pUrattAdhi (July 17, 2014) (6th release)
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asmadhAchAryan
Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi pattarbhirAn rAmAnuja jeeyar (29th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt)
varthmAna swAmy
Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi kaliyan rAmAnuja jeeyar (30th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt)
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Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 10
periya pirAttiAr...................................................................................................................................... 15
mudhalAzhwArgaL................................................................................................................................. 19
thirumazhisai AzhwAr............................................................................................................................ 28
nammAzhwAr........................................................................................................................................ 39
periyAzhwAr.......................................................................................................................................... 61
ANdAL ................................................................................................................................................... 72
thiruppANAzhwAr ................................................................................................................................. 87
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periya nambi ....................................................................................................................................... 160
emperumAnAr..................................................................................................................................... 187
engaLAzhwAn...................................................................................................................................... 258
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parAsara bhattar ................................................................................................................................. 282
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prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan ........................................................................................................ 415
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Introduction
emperumAn sriman nArAyaNan who is sriya:pathi (husband of sri mahAlakshmi), one
who lives eternally in srivaikuntam with his divya mahishis (sri, bhoo, nILA dhEvis)
where he is served by nithysUris like ananthan, garudan, vishwaksEnar, etc is full of
auspicious qualities. Srivaikuntam (paramapadham) is a place of eternal bliss, but when
emperumAn is enjoying there, his heart is with the jIvAthmAs in samsAram (since they
are suffering there). All jIvAthmAs, a) nithyan – always in paramapadham (never been
to samsAram due to karma), b) mukthan – one who was in samsAram but liberated now
and c) badhdhan – one who is in samsAram bound by karma, are subservient to
emperumAn and have the same relationship with emperumAn (owner – owned and
father – son relationships primarily). It is out of this relationship alone emperumAn is
helping all badhdha jIvAthmAs constantly to bring them to srIvaikuntam and engage
them in eternal kainkaryam.
periya perumAL and periyapirAtti in thiruvarangam are the same as Sriman Narayanan
and Sri Mahalakshmi. So starting with Periya perumAL, our OrAN vazhi guru
paramparai goes in this order:
1. periya perumAL
2. periya pirAtti
3. sEnai mudhaliAr
4. nammAzhwAr
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5. nAthamunigal
6. uyyakkondAr
7. maNakkAl nambi
8. ALavandhAr
9. periya nambi
10. emperumAnAr
11. embAr
12. bhattar
13. nanjIyar
14. nampiLLai
15. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai
16. piLLai lOkAchAryar
17. thiruvAimozhi piLLai
18. azhagiya manavALa mAmunigal
AzhwArs and several other AchAryas also are considered to be part of our srivaishnava
guru paramparai.
1. poigai AzhwAr
2. bhUdhathAzhwAr
3. pEyAzhwAr
4. thirumazhisai AzhwAr
5. madhurakavi AzhwAr
6. nammAzhwAr
7. kulasEkarAzhwAr
8. periyAzhwAr
9. ANdAL
10. thondaradippodi AzhwAr
11. thiruppANAzhwAr
12. thirumangai AzhwAr
The AchAryas (who are not in OrANvazhi guru paramparai) include (but not limited to):
1. selva nambi
2. kurugai kAvalappan
3. thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn
4. thiruvarangapperumAL arayar
5. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi
6. periya thirumalai nambi
7. thirumAlai ANdAn
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8. thirukkachi nambi
9. mARanEri nambi
10. kUrathAzhwAn
11. mudhaliyAndAn
12. aruLaLa permAL emperumAnAr
13. kOil komANdUr iLayavilli AchAn
14. kidAmbi AchAn
15. vaduga nambi
16. vangi purathu nambi
17. sOmAsi ANdAn
18. piLLai uRangAvilli dhAsar
19. thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn
20. kUra nArAyaNa jIyar
21. engaLAzhwAn
22. ananthAzwAn
23. thiruvarangathu amudhanAr
24. nadAthur ammaL
25. vEdha vyAsa bhattar
26. srutha prakAsikA bhattar (sudharsana sUri)
27. periyavAchAn piLLai
28. eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL (this includes the history of nampiLLai’s eedu mahA
vyAkyAnam)
29. eeyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL
30. nAlUr piLLai
31. nAlUrAchAn piLLai
32. naduvil thiruvIdhi pillai bhattar
33. pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar
34. azhagiya manavALa perumAL nAyanAr
35. nAyanArAchAn piLLai
36. vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar
37. kUra kulOthama dhAsar
38. viLAn chOlai pillai
39. vedhAnthAchAryar
40. thirunArAyaNapurathu Ay jananyAchAryar
After (and during) the period of maNavALa mAmunigal, many glorious AchAryas lived in
our sampradhAyam including (but not limited to):
1. ponnadikkAl jeeyar
2. kOil kandhAdai aNNan
3. prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan
4. pathangi paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar
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5. eRumbiappA
6. appiLLai
7. appiLLAr
8. kOil kandhAdai appan
9. srIperumbUthUr Adhi yathirAja jIyar
10. appAchiyAraNNA
11. piLLai lOkam jIyar
12. thirumazhisai aNNAvappangAr
13. appan thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar and more
In the subsequent articles, we will go through the lives of these AchAryas as much as
possible.
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periya perumAL
Our OrAN vazhi guru paramparai starts with periya perumAL himself. As we observed in
the previous article, emperumAn out of his unbounded mercy, takes up the position of
prathama acharya. He reveals the rahasya thrayam to periya pirAtti in vishnu lOkam.
EmperumAn is the only svathanthran (Independent) and sEshi (Master). All others are
parathanthrar (dependent) and sesha (subservient). He takes up the position of
prathama acharyan out of his own will. He is sarvajnan (omniscient), sarvasakthan
(omnipotent) and sarvavyApthan (omnipresent). It is his unquestionable capabilities
which allows him to give mOksham to the jIvAthmAs who show the desire for that.
periya perumAL (originally called Narayanan) descended from paramapadham with the
sriranga vimAnam to bramhA and was worshipped by him in sathya lOkam. Later he
descended to ayOdhya by the request of ikshvAku and was worshipped by raghu kula
kings. rAman gave periya perumAL to vibhIshanAzhwAn as a gift and enroute to lankA
vibhIshanAzwAn placed periya perumAL in srirangam. Liking the beauty of srirangam
(vandinam uralum chOlai, mayilinam ALum chOlai, kondal mIthaNavum chOlai,
kuyilinam kUvum chOlai), emperumAn decided to stay there facing south.
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:
இ :
periya pirAttiAr
emperumAn reveals dhvaya mahA manthram to periya pirAtti in vishnu lOkam. periya
pirAtti is the embodiment of all the qualities that are required in an acharya.
An AchArya should have krupai (mercy towards suffering souls), pArathanthriyam (total
dependence on emperumAn) and ananyArhathvam (totally entitled to emperumAn).
piratti being the embodiment of these 3 qualities rightfully decorates as the 2nd AchArya
in our OrAN vazhi guru paramparai. She is the one who actually inspires all the other
AchAryas for their conduct.
First, when rAvaNan takes her forcefully to lanka, she out of her parama krupai allows
that to happen - because unless she goes to lanka, the dEvasthrIs (wives of dhEvas)
will not be rescued. Her being the mother of the whole universe - she is also the mother
for rAvaNan - it is out of her motherly affection she tolerates the misbehaviour of
rAvaNan.
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Second, when she is pregnant, when srI rAman asks her to leave the kingdom based on
the comments of his citizens, she accepts it fully since she accepts that she is totally
dependent (pArathanthriyam) on emperumAn and whatever emperumAn says she will
accept that.
Third, when she leaves srI rAman permanently to paramapadham after coming back
from vanavAsam to prove that she was totally entitled to him (ananyArhathvam) only
and no one else.
Thus she manifests all the 3 qualities that is expected out of an AchArya perfectly.
: :
இ
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sEnai mudhaliAr (vishwaksEnar)
He is one of the nithya sUris. He is the commander-in-chief and the one who monitors
everything in nithya vibhUthi and leelA vibhuthi by the order of emperumAn himself. He
is also called as sEnai mudhalvar, sEnAdhipathi, vEthradharar and vEthrahasthar. His
divine consort (wife) is sUthrAvathi. He is also called sEsha asanar – one who first
partakes emperumAn’s sEsha prasAdham.
periya pirAtti is the AchAryan for sEnai mudhaliAr according to our pUrvAchAryas.
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In sthOthra rathnam, emperumAn’s relationship with sEnai mudhaliAr is revealed in
42nd slOkam.
Simple translation: vishwaksEna is the one who partakes your sEsha prasAdham and
the one who is given the responsibility of running the nithya vibhUthi and leelA vibhuthi
by you and the one who is liked by everyone. That vishwaksEna is known for his ability
to do any task given to him by emperumAn just by emperumAn’s katAksham – i.e.,
emperumAn need not speak – sEnai mudhaliAr will understand emperumAn’s
thiruvuLLam by just looking at his eyes and execute the same to perfection.
Let us pray to sEnai mudhaliAr to bless us to be situated with pure devotion towards
emperumAn.
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mudhalAzhwArgaL
In this article we will discuss the vaibhavam of mudhalAzhwArgaL (poigaiyAr,
bhUthathAr, peyAr).
poigai AzhwAr
poigai AzhwAr was born in a pond near thiruvekhA yathOkthAkAri temple. He is also
known as kAsAra yOgi and sarO munIndhrar.
His thanian
kAnchyAm sarasi hEmAbjE jAtham kAsAra yOgiNam
kalayE ya: sriya:pathi ravim dhIpam akalpayath
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: :
bhuthathAzhwAr
His thanian
mallApura varAdhIsam mAdhavI kusumOdhbhavam
bhUtham namAmi yO vishNOr gYAnadhIpam akalpayath
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pEyAzhwAr
pEyAzhwAr was born in a well near thirumayilai kEsava perumAL temple. He is also
known as mahathAhvayar, mayilApurAdhIpar.
His thanian
dhrushtvA hrushtam thadhA vishNum ramayA mayilAdhipam
kUpE rakthOthpalE jAtham mahathAhvayam AsrayE
mudhalAzhwArgaL charithram/vaibhavam
All the 3 AzhwArs are usually glorified together because of the following reasons.
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They were all born a day after each other in sequence – poigaiyAr, bhuthathAr,
pEyar. They were born in the time period between the end of dhvApara yugam
and the beginning of kaliyugam (yuga sandhi – transition period – see in the
bottom for details).
They were all ayOnijars – one who is not born from a human mother. They all
appeared from flowers by the divine mercy of emperumAn.
They were attached to emperumAn right from their birth – they were fully/divinely
blessed by emperumAn and were fully enjoying bhagavath anubhavam
throughout their life.
At some point in their life, they meet each other and from then onwards they
stayed together and they travelled together to various
dhivyadhEsams/kshEthrams. They are also called “Odith thiriyum yOgigaL”
( ) – the yOgis who are always doing pilgrimage.
All the 3 AzhwArs were born in different locations and enjoying emperumAn thoroughly.
emperumAn who considers his adiyArs as his life (gIthai – jnAnI thu Athma Eva mE
matham) wanted to see them all together. So he made a divine arrangement to bring all
3 of them to thirukkOvalUr in the night time.
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It was raining heavily and one by one started arriving to a small shed. When they got in
to the shed there was just enough space for the 3 of them to stand. Being completely
situated in bhagavath bhAvam, they started inquiring about each other and found out
the details about each other. When they were sharing their divine anubhavams,
emperumAn with his thirumAmagaL suddenly entered the shed where it was very dark.
Wanting to see who arrived,
poigai AzhwAr lit the place using the world as a lamp, the ocean as the oil and
sun as the light.
bhUthathAzhwAr lit the place using his love as lamp, his attachment as the oil
and his mind as the light.
pEyAzhwAr, being helped by the other two AzhwArs, sees the glowing beauty of
emperumAn who is with his pirAtti, thiruvAzhi and thiruchchangu and performs
mangaLAsAsanam for that sErthi.
Thus they enjoyed the thirukkOvalUr Ayan and many other archAvathAra emperumAns
together during their time in the leelA vibhUthi.
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inkavi pAdum paramakavigal (7.9.6) – Here, nampiLLai identifies that
mudhalAzhwArgaL are also known as “chendhamizh pAduvAr”. He also identifies
that AzhwArs were so expert in thamizh, when poigai AzhwAr and pEyAzhwAr
asked bhUthathAzhwAr to glorify emperumAn – he spontaneously sung the
glories of emperumAn like how a male elephant fetched the honey for the female
elephant immediately when asked by the female elephant (this elephants incident
is explained by bhUthathAzhwAr in “perugu madhavEzham” – iraNdAm
thiruvanthAdhi – 75th pAsuram).
palaradiyAr munbhrauLiya (7.10.5) – nampiLLai beautifully brings out the
thiruvuLLam of nammAzhwAr here. nammAzhwAr says in this pAsuram that
emperumAn blessed him to sing thiruvAimozhi instead of great rishis like sri
vEdhavyAsar, sri vAlmiki, sri parAsarar and mudhalAzhwArgaL who were expert
in thamizh.
chenchorkavikAl (10.7.1) – nampiLLai refers to mudhalAzhwArgaL as “inkavi
pAdum parama kavigaL”, “chendhamizh pAduvAr”, etc and identifies that they
are ananya prayOjanargaL (one who glorifies emperumAn without expecting
anything in return).
Simple translation:
These 3 AzhwArs appeared before the other 7 AzhwArs and benedicted the world with
their divine thamizh pAsurams. It is because of this glorious act they became to be
popularly known as mudhalAzhwArgaL.
In the vyakyAnam, piLLai lOkAm jIyar brings out some beautiful aspects.
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He also identifies that these AzhwArs were born during the dhvApara-kali yuga
sandhi (transition period) and thirumazhisai AzhwAr appeared along the same
time. Subsequently, in the beginning of the kaliyugam, other AzhwArs appeared
one after the other.
They laid the foundation for dhivya prabhandhams in the great dhrAvida bAshai
(thamizh).
mAmunigaL also brings out the glories of ippasi – thiruvONam, avittam and sathayam
as these dates became so popular after the appearance of the mudhalAzhwArgaL on
these days.
yuga sandhi
yathIndra matha dhIpikai explains various technical concepts in our sampradhAyam and
is considered as one of the most authentic sources for our sidhAntham.
In this, kAla thathvam is explained in detail and we see the definition of the various
yugams and their sandhi periods.
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Also, in 1 day of brahmA, there is 14 manus, 14 indhrans and 14 saptha rishis
(all of these are posts that are given to certain jIvAthmAs based on their karmA).
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thirumazhisai AzhwAr
mAmunigaL glorifies AzhwAr as the one who has absolutely clear knowledge about the
essence of sAsthtram – i.e, only srIman nArAyaNan is worshippable and we should not
even have a tinge of association with anya dhEvathas (other demi-gods). mAmunigaL
uses the phrase “thuyya mathi” meaning pure mind for AzhwAr. piLLai lOkam jIyar
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explains the purity of AzhwAr here means having no tinge of parathvam (supremacy) for
dhEvathais other than srIman nArAyaNan and removing any such doubts from our
minds as well. In many pAsurams, AzhwAr identifies how srIvaishNavas conduct
themselves in relation to anya dhEvathais. For example:
nampiLLai‘s explanation:
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Thus mAmunigaL, periyavAchAn piLLai and nampiLLai explain the unique speciality of
thirumazhisai AzhwAr in their beautiful works.
Beyond these, in the thanian for thiruchandha viruththam, it is beautifully explained that
once when great sages wanted to do thapas in a nice secluded place, they compared
the entire universe with thirumazhisai (which is the avathAra sthalam of AzhwAr),
thirumazhisai was determined by them as greater. Such is the greatness of
AzhwAr/AchAryas avathAra sthalams that they should be glorified even more than
dhivyadhEsams since AzhwAr/AchAryas showed us who emperumAn is and without
them we would not have acquired great these anubhavams on emperumAn.
Once the maharishis such as athri, bhrugu, vasishta, bhArgava, AngIrasa, etc., went to
brahmA (chathur mukan) and asked him “We want to live in the best place in
bhUlOkam. Please establish factually the best place”. brahmA, with the help of
viswakarmA, measured the whole universe in one side and thirumazhisai in another
side and thirumazhisai wins the competition. It is also known as mahIsAra kshEthram.
So, the maharishis go and live there for some time.
At that time, When bhArgava maharishi was performing a yagyam named dhIrga sathra
yAgam on srIman nArAyaNan, his wife becomes pregnant and after 12 months, she
gives birth to a piNdam (lump of flesh – early stage embryo) who is thirumazhisai
AzhwAr. He appears as sudharsana amsam (looking at the glories of AzhwArs, some
AchAryas have said that they are amsam of nithyasUris, but our pUrvAchAryas have
firmly explained that AzhwArs were in samsAram time immemorial and blessed
suddenly by emperumAn). bhArghava maharishi and his wife did not want to support
that child which had no form yet and just left that under a bush. bhUdhEvi nAchiyAr, by
the divine will of srIdhEvi nAchiyAr, took that piNdam and protects that and by her touch
that piNdam becomes a beautiful child. Immediately, he starts crying out of hunger, and
jagannAthan emperumAn (of thirumazhisai) appears in front of AzhwAr, shows him the
divine form of thirukkudanthai ArAvamuthan, blessed him with full knowledge and soon
enough, once emperumAn disapppeared from his vision, he started crying out of
separation.
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At that time a wood cutter named thiruvALan who was passing by, notices the young
and crying baby, and with great joy, picks him up and brings him to his wife. Since she
did not have a child, she happily accepts that child and starts raising him. Out of
motherly affection, she attempts to breast-feed AzwAr, but AzhwAr being fully engaged
in bhagavath kalyANaguNa anubhavam does not show in eating, speaking, crying, etc.,
but still by the grace of bhagavAn continues to grow beautifully.
Hearing about this astonishing news, an old man who is born in chathurtha varNam,
along with his wife, one day, prepares nice warm milk, visits him early in the morning,
looks at the child’s magnificent thEjas, offers him the milk and requests him to kindly
accept the same. Azhwar being greatly pleased with their devotion, accepts the milk,
drinks some and gives them back some of the sEsham (remnants) of the milk. He tells
them to consume that milk prasAdham and blesses them that they will have a
sathputhan (good son) soon. At once, by the grace of AzhwAr, they regain their youth,
and the woman becomes pregnant soon. After 10 months, she begets a child like srI
vidhurar (who was extremely attached to kaNNan emperumAn). They name him
kaNikaNNan and teach him everything about emperumAn.
AzhwAr, after becoming 7 years old, since he is the son of bhArghava rishi and also
blessed by emperumAn during his birth, wants to perform astAnga yOgam. To do that
he first wants to understand the parabhrammam properly and he searches through all
different mathams (so he can firmly establish that they are defective) such as bhAhya
mathams (sAkhya, ulUkya, akshapAdhat, kshapaNa, kapila, pathanjali) and kudhrushti
mathams (saiva, mAyAvAdha, nyAya, vaisEshika, bhAtta, prabAkara, etc) and clearly
analyses/establishes that all of these mathams dont lead to the ultimate truth. Finally,
he becomes firmly situated in the srivaishNava sidhAntham which is the sanAthana
dharmam.Thus 700 years pass by.
sarvEsvaran then blesses him with divine blemishless knowledge, and shows him
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emperumAn with such great qualities, shows AzhwAr how he creates brahmA (his first
son) from his nAbhi kamalam (lotus flower in his naval) according to svEthasvathAra
upanishadh “yO brahmANam vidhAdhAthi pUrvam” meaning parabrahmam is one who
creates brahmA and as per chAndhOgya brAmaNam “brahmaNa: puthrAya jyEstAya
srEshtAya” – rudhran, who is the first and best son of brahmA. AzhwAr seeing this
immediately declares the same meanings in his nAnumgan thiruvanthAdhi as
“NAnmuganai NArAyanNan padaiththAn NAnmuganum thAn mugamAych
chanGkaranaith thAn padaiththAn” (
) meaning
nArAyaNan created brahmA and brahmA inturn created rudhran, and clearly removes
any doubts in the minds of samsAris about the supremacy of emperumAn. AzhwAr
himself declares that he learnt various mathams and finally by the mercy of emperumAn
he attained the lotus feet of emperumAn. After that, he was constantly meditating on the
most auspicious qualities of sriya:pathi (husband of srI mahAlakshmi) on the banks of
kairvaiNi pushkariNi in thiruvallikkENi (brindhAraNya kshEthram).
One day, rudhran along with his wife, was passing by on his rushabam on the sky.
When their shadow was about to touch AzhwAr, AzhwAr moves away. Noticing this
pArvathi tells rudhran that they should go and meet him. rudhran replies that he is a
great soul and devotee of emperumAn and he will simply ignore them. She insists that
she wants to go down and meet him and rudhran obliges. AzhwAr does not even bother
to look at him. rudhran then asks AzhwAr “How can you ignore us, when we are right
next to you?”. AzhwAr replies “I have nothing to do with you”. rudhran says “We want to
give you some benediction”. AzhwAr says “I dont want anything from you”. rudhran say
“My visit will be wasted, you ask for whatever you desire”. AzhwAr with a smile says
“Can you give me mOksham?”. rudhran says “I have not authority to give that. Only
srIman nArAyaNan can give that”. AzhwAr then asks “Can you postpone the death of
some one?” and rudhran replies “That is based on the individual’s karmA. I have no
control over that”. AzhwAr then shows his needle and thread and asks rudhran
sarcastically “Can you send this thread into the needle?”. rudhran becomes very angry
and declares that he will burn him down like he burnt kAma dhEvan. He opens his 3rd
eye and fire starts flowing from there. AzhwAr also opens his 3rd eye from his right toe
in retaliation and great fire flows from there too. rudhran unable to bear the heat of that
fire from AzhwAr’s thiruvadi, at once surrenders to srIman nArAyaNan, and all the
dhEvas, rishis, etc also approach emperumAn and request him to stop the chaos.
emperumAn, immediately orders the praLaya clouds to bring a great rain and when they
ask if they have the power to subside AzhwAr’s fire, emperumAn says he will give them
the power. A great flood gets formed after subsiding the fire, and AzhwAr being fixed on
emperumAn continues his meditation without any disturbance. rudhran being amazed at
AzhwAr’s nishtai gives him the title “bhakthisArar”, glorifies him and explains to his wife
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that “dhurvAsar was punished for his apachAram to ambarIshan. So, bhAgavathas
cannot be defeated” and leaves to his place.
AzhwAr continues his meditation, and one kEcharan (an aerial being) was travelling in
the sky on his tiger and on seeing AzhwAr, he is unable to cross him due to AzhwAr’s
yOgic powers. He comes down and offers his praNAmams to AzhwAr. Magically, he
creates a divine shawl and says to AzhwAr “Please give up your torn shawl and please
accept this beautiful one”. AzhwAr easily creates a more beautiful shawl with gems and
stones and he becomes embarassed. He then removes his hAram (necklace) and
submits that to AzhwAr and AzhwAr removes his thuLasi mAlai and shows him like
diamond necklace. kEcharan understands the yOga shakthi of AzhwAr, glorifies him,
offers him praNAmams and takes leave from him.
AzhwAr continues his meditation in a cave for some time. mudhalAzhwArs (poigai
AzhwAr, bhUdhathAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr) who are who are constantly travelling and
glorifying emperumAn, oberves the divine thEjas from the cave where AzhwAr lives and
comes to the cave. Immediately realizing thirumazhisai AzhwAr’s glories, they enquire
about his well being. AzhwAr also understanding mudhalAzhwArs glories, enquire about
them. They continue to share their bhagavath anubhavam together for some time. They
all leave from there and reach thirumayilai (mylapore) which is the avathAra sthalam of
pEyAzhwAr and stays on the banks of kairava thIrtham for some time. Subsequently,
mudhalAzhwArs continue on their divine journey and AzhwAr returns to thirumazhisai,
his avathAra sthalam.
He searches for thirumaNkAppu but does not find that. He feels sad and
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn appears to AzhwAr in his svapnam and shows him the place
where he can find thirumaN. He happily retrieves the same and applies dhvAdhasa
Urdhva puNdram (12 thirumaNs on various parts of the body as instructed in sAsthram)
and continues his bhagavath anubhavam. Desiring to go to poigai AzhwAr’s avathAra
sthalam, he arrives at kAnchipuram-thiruvekkA which is glories as the best among
puNya kshEthrams. He continues to stay there for 700 years worshipping the
emperumAn who is lying down beautifully on AdhisEshan and being served by srIdhEvi
and bhUdhEvi. He stays on the banks of the pond where poigai AzhwAr appeared and
spent him time meditating on poigai AzhwAr.
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yathOkthakAri with nAchiyArs, thiruvekkA
At that time, kaNikaNNan arrives to him and takes shelter of his lotus feet. An old
woman comes and serves AzhwAr everyday with great devotion. AzhwAr, being
pleased with her devotion and service, asks her if she has any desires to be fulfilled.
She says, she wants to regain her youth again and AzhwAr blesses her with the same
and she thus becomes a beautiful young girl. The local king, pallavarAyan, becomes
very much attracted with her and requests her to marry him. She agrees and they both
marry and enjoy the married life together. One day, pallavarAyan, noticing that he ages
by day while his wife (blessed by AzhwAr) stays young, asks her how she got her divine
youth. She explains AzhwAr’s blessing and instructs the king to humbly request
kaNikaNNan (who visits the king for materials for his kainkaryam) to recommend to
AzhwAr to bless him also with the same divine youth. The king summons kaNikaNNan
and requests him to bring AzhwAr over to the palace for him to worship. kaNikaNNan
replies that AzhwAr does not go anywhere other than emperumAn’s temple. The king
requests kaNikaNNan to glorify him and kaNikaNNan says he will not glorify anyone
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other than srIman nArAyaNan and his devotees as per sistAchAram (by elder’s
principles and acts). The king becomes angry and asks kaNikaNNan to leave his
kingdom since he refused to glorify him. kaNikaNNan at once leaves the palace,
reaches AzhwAr, explains him the incidents and takes leave from him. AzhwAr says “If
you are leaving, I am going to leave as well. If I am leaving, emperumAn will also leave.
When emperumAn leaves, all dhEvathAs will also leave from here”. He then says “I will
go to the temple and wake emperumAn up and bring him with me” and goes to the
temple. AzhwAr then sings in front of thiruvekkA emperumAn:
kanNikanNnNan pOginRAn
kAmarupUnGkachchi manNivanNnNA NI kidakka vEnNdA
thunNivudaiya cheNNAppulavanum pOginREn
NIyum unRan paiNNAgappAy churuttikkoL
Oh! one with the beautiful form staying in thiruvekkA! kaNikaNNan is going, I am (the
firmly situated poet) also going, you wind up your AdhisEshan and leave with us”.
emperumAn accepts AzhwAr’s words and at once follows him and kaNikaNNan. Thus
he got the name yathOktha kAri (kAri – one who performed, yathA – as, utktha –
instructed). All the dhEvathas also follow emperumAn and thus kAnchIpuram becomes
lifeless due to the absence of all auspiciousness. Due to that, the sun does not rise
also, the king and his ministers understanding the problem, run behind the travelling
party and falls at the lotus feet of kaNikaNNan and asks for pardon. kaNikaNNan then
requests AzhwAr to return and AzhwAr prays to emperumAn to return to yathA sthAnam
as per:
kanNikanNnNan pOkkozhiNthAn
kAmarupUnGkachchi manNivanNnNA NI kidakka vEnNdum
thunNivudaiya cheNNAppulavanum pOkkozhiNthEn
NIyum unRan paiNNAgappAy paduththukkoL
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Oh! one with the beautiful form staying in thiruvekkA! kaNikaNNan is returning, I am (the
firmly situated poet) also returning, you open up your AdhisEshan and lie down as
before”.
When AzhwAr was looking for materials for his thiruvArAdhanam, the emperumAn in
the village temple was constantly turning towards his direction. The archakas show this
amazing incident to some brAhamaNas and in turn they go to perumpuliyUr adigaL who
is performing a yagyam in that village and informs him about the incident and greatness
of AzhwAr. perumpuliyUr adigaL, at once leaves the yAgasAlai (yagya bhUmi) and
reaches out to AzhwAr and looking at his aprAkrutha (divine spiritual) thirumEni (body),
offers his praNAmams and requests AzhwAr to visit his yAgasAlai. On his visit, adigaL
performs the agra pUjai (foremost respects) to AzhwAr in his yagyam. Some of the
priests object to that like sisupAlan and his friends objected to dharmaputhran giving
agra pUjai to krishNan during their rAjasUja yAgam. adigaL feels sad and informs
AzhwAr that he cannot bear their words. AzhwAr decides to reveal his great position
sings a pAsuram towards the antharyAmi emperumAn requesting him to reveal his
presence within AzhwAr’s heart to everyone. emperumAn, obliging at once, reveals his
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presence with his dhivya mahishIs, AdhisEshan, garudAzhwAr, etc., in AzhwAr’s heart.
All the priests who opposed AzhwAr realise his greatness and falls flat at his feet and
beg for his forgiveness. They then performed brahma ratham (carrying AzhwAr in a
palanquin) and became the target of AzhwAr’s mercy. AzhwAr then explained them the
essence of sAsthram in great detail. Then, he left to thirukkudanthai to meet
ArAvamuthan emperumAn.
After reaching thirukkudanthai, he then throws all his granthams (palm leaves) in to the
river cauvery. By emperumAn’s thiruvuLLam, nAnmugan thiruvanthAdhi and
thiruchchantha viruththam float against the tides and return to AzhwAr. He picks them
up and goes to ArAvamuthan sannidhi and worships the most beautiful emperumAn
from his thiruvadi (foot) to thirumudi (head). With great love, he instructs emperumAn
“kAvirikkaraik kudaNthaiyuL kidaNthavARezhuNthiruNthu pEchu” (
) meaning “Oh the one who is lying
down in thirukkudanthai which is on the banks of cauvery! stand up and speak to me”.
Hearing AzhwAr’s words, emperumAn literally tries to stand and AzhwAr becoming
overwhelmed by emperumAn’s act performs mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn in
“vAzhi kEchanE” ( ) meaning “Oh the one with beautiful hair! Long live”.
Meditating on this divine form, AzhwAr speent another 2300 years in thirukkudanthai
without accepting any food other than milk. Thus he spent 4700 years in this bhUlOkam
and gave the most important essence of sAsthram through his prabhandhams for the
upliftment of everyone in this samsAram out of his divine grace.
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kOmaLavalli thAyar samEtha ArAvamuthan, thirukkudanthai
He became to be known as thirumazhisai pirAn (since pirAn means one who does great
favours and this word is usually indicated to glorify emperumAn) – since he did the
greatest favour in clarifying the supremacy of emperumAn – AzhwAr became to be
known as pirAn. In turn, thirukkudanthai ArAvamudhan emperumAn became to be
known as AzhwAr (since AzhwAr means one who gets immersed in the name, form,
qualities of emperumAn and this word is usually for the great devotees of emperumAn)
– since he got immersed in the name, form, qualities, etc., of thirumazhisai AzhwAr,
ArAvamudhan emperumAn became to be known as ArAvamuthAzhwAr.
Let us pray for AzhwAr’s divine mercy, so we can also develop the same attachment
towards emperumAn and his adiyArs.
His thanian
sakthi panchamaya vigrahAthmanE sUkthikArajatha chiththa hAriNE
mukthidhAyaka murAri pAdhayOr bhakthisAra munayE namO nama:
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nammAzhwAr
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar.
NammAzhwAr was born in ThirukkurugUr (AzhwAr thirunagari) as the child of KAri and
udayanangai. He was born days after the advent of kaliyugam. In bhagavad gIthA,
krishnan declares that “After many many birth one comes to the conclusion that
everything belongs to vAsudevan (himself). And it is very rare to find such jnAnis”.
NammAzhwAr from his life and works proves that he was one such jnAni who is very
dear to emperumAn. Throughout his life (which only lasted 32 years in this samsAram),
he stayed under the tamarind tree (thirupuLiyAzhwAr) and was always in yOgam
(meditation) thinking about emperumAn. It is said in our pUrvAchArya vyAkyAnams that,
the moment we hear kurugUr (generally in thiruvAimozhi pAsurams, the last pAsuram of
each padhigam will have nammAzhwAr’s name and will generally be prefixed with
kurugUr which is his avathAra sthalam), we should do an anjali towards the south
direction (which is where AzhwAr thirungari is).
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NammAzhwAr is hailed as prapanna jana kUtasthar – i.e., the first one in the prapanna
gOshti. He is also hailed as vaishnava kula pathi – the leader of the vaishnava fold by
ALavandhAr. AlavandhAr in his sthOthra rathnam, 5th slOkam declares that he bows
down at the lotus feet of vakUlAbhirAman who is everything (father, mother, child,
wealth, etc) for him and his followers/descendants.
AzhwAr in sayana thirukkOlam and emperumAnAr at his lotus feet – AzhwAr thirunagari
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he was a samsAri (baddha jIvAtmA) before and was blessed by emperumAn with divine
knowledge. The same logic is applied for other AzhwArs also due to the following
reasons:
Since nammAzhwAr is called the avayavi (whole) and all the other AzhwArs
(except AndAL ofcourse) are avayavam (parts), and
Other AzhwArs have also said the same thing in their works, that they were
suffering in samsAram and are blessed by emperumAn with divine knowledge.
nammAzhwAr who is considered as the avayavi (the whole) and other AzhwArs are
considered as avayam (parts of him), appears in thirukkurugUr, on the banks of river
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thAmirabharaNi which is considered to be greater than all other rivers like gangA,
yamunA, sarasvathi, etc. He appears as the son of kAri who is part of the prappanna
kulam for many generations. These great personalities would not worship any one other
than srIman nArAyaNan as explained by thirumazhisai AzhwAr as “maRaNthum puRam
thozhA mANthar” ( ). There was one thiruvaLuthi
vaLa nAdar, whose son is aRanthAngiyAr, whose son is chakrapANiyAr, whose son is
achyuthar, whose son is chenthAmaraik kaNNar, whose son is poRkAriyAr, whose son
is kAriyAr and whose son is nammAzhwAr.
In this great vaishNava family, poRkAriyAr decides to look for a vaishnava girl for his
son kAri to establish him in gruhasthAshramam and create vaishnava children for the
upliftment of the entire world. poRkAri goes to thiruvaNparisAram dhivyadhEsam and
meet thiruvAzhmArbhar (who is seeking to get her daughter married to a vaishnava and
get vaishnava offsprings) and requests him to give her daughter udaiya nangai in
wedding to kAriyAr. thiruvAzhmArbhar accepts and a grand wedding ceremony is
conducted between kAriyAr and udaiyanangai. Both kAriyAr and udayanangai worship
thiruvAzhmArbhan emperumAn in thiruvaNparisAram and returns to thirukkurugur. On
their return, everyone in thirukkurugUr welcomed them with a great mood of devotion
and celebration just like when srI rAman married sIthA pirAtti and brought her along to
ayOdhyA from mithilA.
After some time, kAriyAr and udayanangai visit thiruvaNparisAram and on their way
back, they visit thirukkurungudi and worship nambi emperumAn. They pray to him to
have a child and nambi promises them that he himself will appear as their child. They
return to thirukkurugur happily and after some time udaya nangai becomes pregnant.
On the 43rd day after the dawn of kaliyugam, as per the orders of emperumAn,
nammAzhwAr as he himself declares in “thirumAlAl aruLap peRRa chatagOpan”
( ) meaning nammAzhwAr who was
divinely blessed by srIman nArAyaNan, appears as an amsam of vishwaksEnar on
bahudhAnya year (also said that it is pramAdhi year), vasantha ruthu (spring season),
vaikAsi month, sukla paksham, paurNami thithi and thiruvisAka nakshathram. Similar to
azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr‘s declaration in his AchArya hrudhayam, here it
is said that “Adhithya rAmadhivAkara achyutha bANukkaLukku NInGgAtha uLLiruL
NInGgi chOshiyAtha piRavikkadal chOshiththu vikasiyAtha pOthil kamalam
malarumpadi vakuLabUshanNa bAskarOdhayam unNdAyththu udaiyaNanGgaiyAgiRa
pUrvasaNdhyaiyilE” (
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samsAris that was not removed by the appearance of the sun (Adhithya), srI rAman
(rAma dhivAkara) who is glorified as a shining sun and krishNan (achyutha bAnu) who
is also glorified as a shining sun, the ignorance was removed and the knowledge
bloomed after the arrival of nammAzhwAr (vakuLA bhUshaNa bAskara) and this
nammAzhwAr was conceived by udaiyanangai.
AdhisEshan appears as the divine tamarind tree to protect AzhwAr (knowing that
AzhwAr will take shelter in thirukkurugUr AthinAthan emperumAn’s temple).
nammAzhwAr’s thanian
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madhurakavi AzhwAr
AchAryan: nammAzhwAr
nampiLLai, in the vyAkyAna avathArikai brings out the glories of madhurakavi AzhwAr
beautifully. Let us see some glimpses of it.
rishis are focussed on sAmAnya sAsthram which establishes ishvaryam, kaivalyam and
bhagavath kainkaryam as purushArtham (goal to be attained by a soul). Azhwars are
focussed on the uththama purushArtham (ultimate goal) that is loving service to srIman
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nArAyaNan. madhurakavi AzhwAr is focussed on the epitome (top most stage) of
bhagavath kainkaryam that is bhAgavatha kainkaryam – ofcourse bhagavAn
appreciates service to his devotees more than service to him.
We can see this in srI rAmAyaNam as well. Since srI rAmAyaNam is vEdha
upabruhmmaNam (that which explains the intricate meanings of vEdham) it promptly
establishes the main aspects of vEdham.
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depending on AchAryan and how that will easily deliver the jIvAthmA. Let us see that
now.
In sUthram 407, it is shown that one may have a doubt in the mind that emperumAn
being svathanthran, may accept us or reject us depending on him following sAsthram
(which gives results based on one’s own karmA) or his kAruNyam (mercy). mAmunigaL
shows in the vyAkyAnam that the sUthram is completed by adding “When we depend
on AchAryan who is a parathanthran (fully dependent on emperumAn), there is no
doubt, since he will ensure that we will get delivered, because AchAryan is embodiment
of kAruNyam and will look for the upliftment of the jIvAthmA only”.
In sUthram 408, it is explained that, this cannot be proved by the pAsurams of the 10
AzhwArs (excluding madhurakavi AzhwAr and ANdaL) who are fully surrendered to
emperumAn. These AzhwArs were divinely blessed by emperumAn with blemishless
knowledge. When they get immersed in bhagavath anubhavam they glorify the
bhAgavathAs. But when the are in separation from emperumAn, they get upset with
bhAgavathAs out of their desperate situation (many pAsurams are cited by mAmunigaL
in the vyAkyAnam). mAmunigaL summarizes in the end that we cannot determine the
true glories of AchArya vaibhavam through the pAsurams of 10 AzhwArs but we have to
do that using madhurakavi AzhwAr’s pAsurams.
In sUthram 409, it is explained that madhurakavi AzhwAr is far greater than other
AzhwArs since he is only focussed on AchArya (nammAzhwAr) vaibhavam unlike other
AzhwArs who glorifies bhAgavathas some times and ignores them at other times. It is
through the words of madhurakavi AzhwAr we can establish the glories of AchArya
vaibhavam.
mAmunigaL explains the glories of madhurakavi AzhwAr and his upadhEsa raththina
mAlai in 25th and 26th pAsurams.
In the 26th pAsuram, he explains the glories of AzhwAr and his prabhandham
wonderfully.
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piLLai lOkam jIyar gives beautiful explanation for this pAsuram. nama: padham in
thirumanthram is taken as an example here for kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu. thirumanthram
is gloried as the one which will relieve the reciter from bondage in this samsAram. In
this thirumanthram, nama: padham is the most important word – it clearly establishes
that we have no involvement in protecting ourselves and we have to fully depend on our
master (emperumAn) to protect us. This same principle is explained by madhurakavi
AzhwAr (who himself is great because of his AchArya nishtai) in his prabhandham that
we should fully depend on our AchAryan to protect us. It is because of this fact that it
brings out the essence of sAsthram, our pUrvAchAryas included this prabhandham in to
the collection of 4000 dhivya prabhandham. Just like madhurakavi AzhwAr is born in
chithrai thirunakshathram which comes in the middle of the 27 nakshathrams, his
prabhandham is also considered the center piece of the dhivya prabhandha rathan
hAram (necklace).
He was born in a family of pUrva shikai brAhmaNas who are part of sAma vEdham. At
the appropriate ages, he undergoes jAtha karma, nAma karaNa, anna prAsana,
chauLa, upanayanam, etc., and learns vEdham, vEdhAntham, purANa, ithihAsam, etc.
He was completely detached from everything else other than emperumAn and goes on
a thIrtha yAthrai to ayOdhyA, mathurA, etc. – dhivyadhEsams/kshEthrams in the
northern part of bhAratha dhEsam.
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madhurakavi AzhwAr, nammAzhwAr, nAthamunigaL – kAnchipuram
nammAzhwAr who appeared after madhurakavi AzhwAr, was staying without any
interest for even mother’s milk and without uttering any sound (in complete silence). His
parents kAri and udaya nangai, on the 12th day after his appearance, with great anxiety
for the child’s behaviour, brought him infront of polindhu ninRa pirAn emperumAn who is
having his beautiful temple in the south side river thamirabharaNi, who is decorated
beautifully with shankam (divine conch) and chakram (divine disc), who is having lotus
like beautiful eyes, who is holding the abhaya hastham (a posture of the hand which
declares he will protect us) and who is with his dhivya mahishIs srIdhEvi, bhUdhEvi and
nILA dhEvi. In front of emperumAn, they give him the name “mARan” (one who is
different from others) and leaves him under the divine tamarind tree and considers him
as a divine personality and worships him there. paramapadhanAthan then instructs
vishwaksEnar to go and perform panchasamskAram to nammAzhwAr and teach him
dhrAvida vEdham (from this we can understand dhrAvida vEdham is also eternal as
declared by nAyanAr in AchArya hrudhayam) and all rahasya manthrams/meanings and
vishwaksEnar obliged as such.
nammAzhwAr then stayed for 16 years under the thiruppuLiyAzhwAr (divine tamarind
tree). His parents understanding his greatness but unable to share the same since not
many understood AzhwAr’s greatness, keeps praying to thirukkurungudi nambi
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emperumAn. madhurakavi AzhwAr also hears about this matter and once when he went
to the river banks in the night and noticed there was a bright light shining in the south
side. He first thinks that may be there is some village burning or a forest fire.
But, subsequently he notices the same light for 2 or 3 nights consecutively. He decides
to investigate what it is and so sleeps in the morning and starts following that light in the
night. He checks many dhivya dhEsams on his way and reaches srIrangam. He still
sees the light from further south and finally reaches thirukkurugUr (AzhwAr thirunagari).
He no longer sees the light and concludes that it must be originating from here. He then
enters the temple and under the thiruppuLiyAzhwAr, he sees nammAzhwAr who looks
filled with complete/pure knowledge, who has beautiful eyes, who is just 16 years young
and beautiful like the moon on a full moon day, who is seated on padhmAsanam, who
has the upadhEsa mudhrai instructing about emperumAn and who is the AchAryan for
all prapannas. Observing that he is fully immersed in bhagavath anubhavam, he takes a
rock and throws in front of him. AzhwAr beautifully wakes up and looks at madhurakavi
AzhwAr. Wanting to check if he can speak, madurakavi AzhwAr asks him
“cheththaththin vayiRRil chiRiyathu piRaNthAl eththaiththinRu enGgE kidakkum”
(
) meaning if a chEthanan (jIvAthmA – sentient) enters an achEthanam
(insentient), what will he enjoy and where will he stay. AzhwAr replies “aththaiththinRu
anGgE kidakkum” ( ) meaning “He will keep
enjoying the materialistic joy and sorrows and will stay permanently there”. Hearing this
madhurakavi AzhwAr realises that “He is a sarvagyar (omniscient – one who knows
everything) and I should serve this great personality and be uplifted” and falls flat at the
lotus feet of nammAzhwAr. He then stays with AzhwAr permanently, serves him always
and sings his glories.
Subsequently, srIvaikunta nAthan (from paramapadham) who is the cause of all causes,
who is the proprietor or everything, who is the controller of everyone, who is the in-
dwelling supersoul of every one and every thing, who one who has a beautiful
blackish/bluish thirumEni (body) wants to meet AzhwAr. periya thiruvadi (garudAzhwAn)
at once arrives in front of emperumAn and emperumAn along with srI mahAlakshmi
climbs on them and they reach thirukkurugUr at once and gives his divine dharshan to
nammAzhwAr and blesses him divine blemishless knowledge. nammAzhwAr, being
blessed by emperumAn, immerses in bhagavath anubhavam and as that anubhavam
overflows beyond limits, they flow out as divine pAsurams in the form of thiruvirutham,
thiruvAsiriyam, periya thiruvanthAdhi and thiruvAimozhi (which are the essence of 4
vEdhams) revealing emperumAn’s divine svarUpam, divine forms, divine qualities.
nammAzhwAr then teaches the same to madhurakavi AzhwAr and others who were
surrendered to him. All the dhivya dhEsa emperumAns arrive to thiruppuLiyAzhwAr to
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bless nammAzhwAr and sustain themselves by the mangaLAsAsanam of
nammAzhwAr. nammAzhwAr then blesses everyone to become like him, to develop the
same attachment towards emperumAn like him and nithya sUris (from paramapadham)
and svEthadvIpa vAsis (residents of kshIrAbdhi) arrive to glorify nammAzhwAr and
nammAzhwAr after seeing them performs mangaLAsAsanam to them. nammAzhwAr
being overwhelmed by the glories of nithya sUris and svEthadvIpa vAsis and them
coming to see him, declares himself to be the greatest in the universe (sAthvika
ahankAram arising out of emperumAn’s divine blessings), lives with unlimited glories,
always sustaining himself by thinking about kaNNan emperumAn. He fully reveals artha
panchakam (paramAthma svarUpam, jIvAthma svarUpam, upAya svarUpam, upEya
svarUpam and virOdhi svarUpam) and the meanings of dhvaya mahA manthram
through thiruvAimozhi which is divine nectar for the devotees of emperumAn. He finally
leaves this samsAram at the age of 32 and reaches paramapadham by the divine desire
of emperumAn.
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) which is the beginning of thiruvAimozhi 10.5.1 pAsuram on a small palm-
leaf and hands it over to those poets from thamizh sangam. He tells them that if the
sanga palagai accepts these 2 words of AzhwAr then his greatness will be proved. The
poets agree to madhurakavi AzhwAr’s words and go to madhurai and explain the
incidents to the leader of thamizh sangam. The leader agrees and they keep the palm-
leaf with AzhwAr’s pAsuram along with 300 other great poets of those days. The
magical plank retains AzhwAr’s words alone and pushes everyone else immediately
proving AzhwAr’s greatness. The leader of the sangam at once compiles a poem
glorifying AzhwAr as follows:
IyAduvathO garudaRkethirE
iravikkethir minminiyAduvathO
NAyOduvathO uRumippulimun
NarikEcharimun NadaiyAduvathO
pEyaduvathO ezhilUrvachimun
perumAnadi chEr vaguLAbharanNan OrAyiramAmaRaiyin thamizhil oru chol porumO
ulagil kaviyE
nammAzhwAr‘s (who is surrendered to srIman nArAyaNan and have given the essence
of vEdham in his 1000+ pAsurams) one word cannot be compared any number of these
poems of these worldly poets just like there is no comparison between
Seeing this, all the poets at once begged for their forgiveness from nammAzhwAr and
glorified him. Thus madhurakavi AzhwAr spent his time glorifying his AchAryan as per
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“gurum prakAchayEth dhImAN” ( ) meaning ones
AchAryan should be glorified in public and uplifted all beings. After some time he left
this samsAram and reached his AchAryan thiruvadi to perform nithya kainkaryam to
nammAzhwAr.
His thanian
avidhitha vishayAntharas chatArEr upanishdhAm upagAna mAthra bOga:
api cha guNa vachAth thadhEka sEshi madhurakavir hrudhayE mamAvirasthu
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kulasEkara AzhwAr
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar
kulasEkara AzhwAr’s greatness lies in the fact that he was born in kshathriya kulam
(which is condusive for having great ego) but was still so humble in his attitude towards
emperumAn and bhakthas. It is because of his great devotion and attachment towards
perumAL (srI rAman) he came to be known as kulasEkara perumAL himself. In his
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perumAL thirumozhi, after performing mangaLAsAsanam to periya perumAL in the first
padhigam (iruLiyach chudar manigaL), he immediately glorifies srIvaishNavas in the
second padhigam (thEttarum thiral thEn). He is also popular to have been so attached
to srIvaishnavas which we will see in his charithram in the subsequent sections.
Oh srIvEnkatEsa! You are the one who can eradicated my strong karmAs. I want to be
like the stepping stone at the entrance of your sannidhi where your great devotees,
dhEvas who expect material benefits from you and their dependants are longing to take
your dharshan.
(padiyAik kidanthu) achith (insentient) in the sense that emperumAn should have
full control over the jIvAthmA. Just like chandhanam (sandal wood), kusumam
(flower), etc – which are only present for the pleasure of the consumer and have
no personal interest at all.
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(un pavaLa vAyk kANbEnE) chit (sentient) in the sense that we should
acknowledge that he is having pleasure by accepting our service. If we dont
acknowledge and receiprocate then we will be no different than achith.
nAyanAr in his magnum opus AchArya hrudhayam explains that one should
discriminate between devotees based on their birth in a series of chUrNikais and
establishes the greatness of nammAzhwAr and other great personalities in the end. In
that section, while explaining the greatness of the births which is condusive to
bhagavath kainkaryam, nAyanAr cites the example of how various great personalities
opted/desired for so-called low births only because of the reason that those births are
very condusive for kainkaryam. Let us see the essence of 87th chUrNikai and how this
relates to kulasEkara AzhwAr.
The nithyasUris like ananthan, garudan, etc., opts to take birth as bed (AdhisEshan), a
bird (garudAzhwAr), etc. nammAzhwAr identifies how thiruththuzhAi is so dear to
emperumAn that he wears it everywhere (on his head, shoulders, chest, etc). Great
sages like parAsara, vyAsa, sukha, etc., desired to be born as the dust of vrindhAvana
which gets touched by the lotus feet of krishNan and gOpis. kulasEkara AzhwAr desired
to be born as anything in thiruvEnkata hill. ALavandhAr desired to be born as a worm in
the house of a srIvaishNava. Let us see kulasEkara AzhwAr’s desire in a little bit detail
as explained by mAmunigaL in the vyAkyAnam of this chUrNikai.
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In perumAL thirumozhi 4th padhigam, AzhwAr desires to have some relationship with
thiruvEnkata hill which lasts forever – he wants to be eternally connected to
thiruvEnkata hill.
He desires to be:
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thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn needs to know that I am there and no one need to glorify
that I am there. I am just happy to be present there in some form eternally”.
Such was the greatness of kulasEkara AzhwAr, he was fully craving for
bhagavath/bhAgavatha sambandham without any personal expectation.
srI kulasEkara perumAL was born in the kingdom of kollinagar (thiruvanjikkALam) in the
kshahriya vamsam an amsam of srIkausthubam as shown in dhivya sUri charitham by
garuda vAhana pandithar (though AzhwArs were handpicked from samsAram by
emperumAn and divinely blessed by him). He is also known as kolli kAvalan, kozhiyar
kOn, kUdal nAyakan, etc.
Being a great king, he was thinking to be fully independent and the controller of his
rAjyam. srIman nArAyaNan who is the supreme controller of both paramapadham and
samsAram, out of his causeless mercy, blessed him blemishless divine knowledge,
removed his rajO/thamO guNams and made him fully situated in sathva guNam and
revealed his divine svarUpam (true nature), rUpam (form), guNam (qualities), vibhUthi
(his wealth/controlling power) and chEshtithams (pastimes/leelais) in detail. Seeing that
and understanding the same, AzhwAr became greatly anguished to be in the midst of
samsAris who are fully indulged in bodily aspirations without any interest in bhagavath
vishayam (spiritual matters). As nammAzhwAr declares that great material wealth is like
big fire which will destroy the owner himself by indulging him in just more and more
material aspirations, kulasEkara AzhwAr had no attachment to his rAjyam (kingdom)
and stayed aloof from everything like srI vibhIshaNAzhwAn gave up all his wealth and
surrendered to srI rAman.
He developed great attachment towards srIrangam and srI ranganAthan and more so
towards the devotees of srI ranganAthan who are completely detached from worldly
affairs and spend their time only singing the glories of srI ranganAthan. He wanted to
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live amidst such srIvaishNavas who are called sAdhus (vaishNava agrEsa: – leader of
vaishnavas) and the ones who are identified as “anNiyaranGgan thirumuRRaththu
adiyAr” ( ) meaning the devotees who
spend all their life in srIranganAthan’s temple. Understanding that srIranga yAthrai and
the desire to go to srIrangam itself will give paramapadham what to speak of living in
srIrangam, he lives everyday thinking about going to srIrangam.
Also, he developed great attachment towards thiruvEnkatam (thirumalai) which has the
swAmy pushkariNi that is glorified to be greater than the holy rivers gangA, yamunA,
etc. As ANdaL also speaks about “vEnGkataththaip pathiyAga vAzhvIrgAL”
( ) meaning we should live in thiruvEnkatam
as our eternal residence where great sages and mahAthmAs stay eternally, he also has
the same desire. As we have already seen in the beginning, he desires to be a bird, a
plant or even a stone on this dhivyadhEsam. Beyond this he also desires to live in many
dhivyadhEsams serving the archAvathAra emperumAn and his devotees there.
After analysing and observing the various purANams, ithihAsams, etc., he blesses with
a great sanskrit slOka grantham named mukundha mAlai. As the greatness of
srIrAmAyaNam is explained in the following slOkam:
Just like srIman nArAyaNan who can be understood through vEdham appeared as srI
rAman (the son of dhasarathan), vEdham itself appeared as srI rAmAyaNam from srI
vAlmIki.
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AzhwAr took up listening to srI rAmAyaNam and discoursing the same as his daily
routine. He becomes immersed in srI rAmAyaNam that some times he forgets even who
he is. Once when the lecturer explains the sequence were 14000 rAkshasas under
kara/dhUshaNa prepare for a battle with srI rAman who leaves sItha dhEvi under the
protection of iLaya perumAL (lakshmaNan) in a cave and all the rishis become very
scared seeing at this situation where perumAL is single handedly taking on 14000
rAkshasas, AzhwAr being overwhelmed with emotions, at once orders his army to get
ready for the battle and march towards the battle field to help srI rAman. Seeing this,
some of his ministers, arrange for a few people to come from the opposite side and
inform him that the battle is already won by srI rAman and sIthA dhEvi is nursing his
injuries by tenderly attending him and he need not go any more. AzhwAr being satisfied,
returns to his kingdom.
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His ministers then start thinking about AzhwAr’s behaviour and decide that this is an
outcome of his association with the srIvaishnavas. They decide to drive the
srivaishnavas out and devise a plan for that. They steal one of the diamond necklace
from the thiruvArAdhanam room of AzhwAr and proclaim that his close confident
srIvaishnavas must have stole it. At once, AzhwAr orders for a pot with a venomous
snake placed in it and once it arrives, he puts his hand inside and declares that
“srIvaishnavas will not indulge in such acts” – the snake does not bite him due to his
honesty and the ministers feel ashamed, return the necklace and beg for forgiveness
from AzhwAr and srIvaishnavas.
Subsequently, AzhwAr starts feeling greatly anguished living amidst samsAris as stated
in saunaka samhithai that “For a prapanna, being with people who dont glorify
bhagavAn is worse than being amidst a ball of fire”. He then crowns his son as the king
of the kingdom and hands over all the responsibilities and declares that “AnAtha
chelvaththu arambaiyargaL thaRchUzha vAnALum chelvamum manNnNarachum yAn
vEnNdEn” (
) meaning He no longer desires to
rule great wealth surrounded by many servants and entertainers. He then leaves to
srIrangam with his close srIvaishnava friends and performs mangaLAsAsanam to
srIranganAthan who looks like a diamond placed on golden plate (him lying down on
AdhisEshan) and who is always looking out for the welfare of everyone. He glorifies
emperumAn every moment and as a result of his outpouring emotions, he compiles
perumAL thirumozhi and blesses that to every one and thus uplifted them. After some
time he leaves this samsAram and reaches the divine abode of paramapadhanAthan
and eternally serves him there.
His thanian
gushyathE yasya nagarE rangayAthrA dhinE dhinE
thamaham sirasA vandhE rAjAnam kulasEkaram
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periyAzhwAr
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar
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mAlAkArar (the garland maker) in mathurA before going to the assembly of kamsan,
requesting him for some garlands and when the mAlAkArar happily gives the best
garland with great love and affection, kaNNan emperumAn becomes extremely pleased
and wears it with great joy. Observing this, periyAzhwAr determines that making flower
garlands is the most pleasing service for emperumAn, he starts making a garden where
he plants fresh flower-giving seeds, nurtures the same and makes fresh garland every
day to srIvilliputhur emperumAn with great love and affection.
There is a big difference between periyAzhwAr and other AzhwArs. Other AzhwArs
want to get their desires (them serving emperumAn eternally) fulfilled. But periyAzhwAr
is focussed on fulfilling emperumAn’s desires (bringing many suffering jIvAthmAs to be
with him eternally in paramapadham) even at the cost of his own desires. Other
AzhwArs think that Ishvaran is the protector and they are the protected and thus get rid
of their fears. periyAzhwAr thinks that he is the protector and Ishvaran is to be
protected. This point is further explained by piLLai lOkAchAryar and mAmunigaL
beautifully which we will see in the subsequent sections.
piLLai lOkAchAryar in srI vachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram, explains the glories of
mangaLAsAsanam as part of the sidhdhOpAya nishtar’s (one who is fully situated in
bhagavAn as upAyam(process)/upEyam(goal)) dhinacharyai (daily activities). The
srIvaishnava dhinacharyai is already discussed in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/srivaishnava-lakshanam-10.html and
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/srivaishnava-lakshanam-11.html as part of the
srIvaishnava lakshaNam series of articles - http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/srivaishnava-
lakshanam.html.
mangaLAsAsanam means desiring/praying for the well being of some one. AzhwArs
are always looking out for emperumAn’s well being. But piLLai lOkAchAryar shows that
periyAzhwAr’s attachment towards emperumAn is far greater than others. This is
already explained in detail in the introduction section of periyaAzhwAr’s archAvathAra
anubhavam – http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-
periyazhwar.html. Let us just see 255th sUthram which nicely brings out the glories of
periyAzhwAr and srI bhAshyakArar (rAmAnujar).
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allAthavargaLaip pOlE kEtkiRavargaLudaiyavum, chollukiRavargaLutaiyavum
thanimaiyaith thavirkkaiyanRikkE ALumALAr engiRavanudaiya thanimaiyaith
thavirkkaikkAgavAyiRRu bhAshyakArarum ivarum upathEchippathu.
இ .
mAmunigaL in his vyAkyAnam for this sUthram explains that AzhwAr understands the
most tender/delicate nature of emperumAn and determines that such tender natured
person cannot bear separation from the jIvAthmAs and thus wants to fully focus on that
alone. He also brings out beautifully that piLLai lOkAchAryar said bhAshyakArar
(instead of emperumAnAr, rAmAnujar, etc) to reveal that bhAshyakArar means one who
established the essence of vEdhAntham through srIbhAshyam – and thus his act of
focussing on emperumAn’s pleasure alone is also in line with vEdhAntham.
In the 16th pAsuram, he tells to his own heart that Ani svAthi is to be greatly
glorified since that is the day when pattarpirAn (periyAzhwAr) who brought us
great auspiciousness by compiling thiruppallANdu appeared.
In the 17th pAsuram, he instructs his own heart to always think that there is no
one equal in this whole world to the gyAnis who become pleased on hearing the
glories of Ani svAthis which is the appearance day of periyAzhwAr.
In the 18th pAsuram, he explains that periyAzhwAr’s interest in performing
mangaLAsAsanam is far greater than other AzhwArs and because of his
overflowing affection towards emperumAn, he became to be famously known as
periyAzhwAr.
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In the 19th pAsuram, among all the pAsurams (which are defectless – here
defect means discussing other matters than emperumAn) of AzhwArs (who are
defectless – here defect means having attachment to other upAyams like
karma/gyAna/bhakthi and also not having great desire to reach emperumAn),
thiruppallANdu is the foremost. Just like praNavam is the foremost and essence
of samskritha vEdham, thiruppallANdu is the foremost and essence of dhrAvida
vEdham since this discusses mangaLAsAsanam.
In the 20th pAsuram, he asks his heart to observe all pramANams and see if
there is a prabhandham better than thiruppallANdu and to observe all AzhwArs
and see if there is another AzhwAr better than periyAzhwAr.
His unique speciality is that he is the father-in-law of periya perumAL by giving his
daughter ANdAL in marriage to him.
periyAzhwAr was born in srIvilliputhUr where many great experts of vEdham lived. He
was born on Ani svAthi and named vishNuchithar by his parents. Since he did
parathathva nirUpaNam (establishing srIman nArAyaNan’s supremacy) like garudan
who is called as vEdhAthmA (one who has vEdham as his body) and who always holds
srIman nArAyaNan’s lotus feet (thus establishing srIman nArAyaNan’s parathvam), he
was considered as an amsam of garudAzhwAr (though AzhwArs are hand-picked from
samsAram and divinely blessed by emperumAn).
He was blessed by vatapathrasAyI by his causeless mercy during his birth itself just like
prahlAdhan was born with bhagavath bhakthi. It is said in sAsthram that “Na
akinYchithkurvathach chEshathvam” ( ) meaning
when one does not perform atleast small service to emperumAn, his sEshathvam
(servitorship) does not exist. Thinking that he should also engage in some kainkaryam
purely for the pleasure of emperumAn, he started observing all the purANams, etc. He
observes that sarvEshvaran appears as krishNan in mathurA as stated in:
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srIman nArAyaNan who was lying down in kshIrAbdhi gave up his AdhisEsha bed and
descended to mathurA as krishNan.
At that time one king named srI vallabha dhEvan who comes in the lineage of pAndiya
king (who planted his fish flag on the divine mEru mountain) was ruling the pAndiya
kingdom from (south) madhurai in a very virtuous manner. One night he was going on a
walk in disguise to check the proper functioning of the kingdom, he noticed a brAhmaNa
sitting outside someone’s house. The king asks him about his identity and whereabouts
and the brAhmaNa tells him that he is a brAhmaNa and is returning from ganges after
doing gangA snAnam. The king asks him to recite a slOkam if he knows and the
brAhmaNa recites the following slOkam.
People work hard for 8 months to stay relaxed during the 4 months of rainy season; To
be happy in the night they work hard in the day time; To live comfortably when they get
old, people work hard when they are young; People should thus work hard in this life to
have a good after-life.
Hearing this, the king starts contemplating that he is comfortable in this life from
material wealth, comforts, etc, but he is not sure about the after-life and how to
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approach that. He then goes to his purOhith (pandit) and asks him how to establish the
supreme god and how to attain him after this life. selva nambi who is a great devotee of
srIman nArAyaNan at once says we must assemble all the vidhwAns (scholars) and
establish the parathathvam based on vEdhAntham. He invites the scholars to establish
the truth since the most important principle per Apasthambha dharma sUthram,
“dharmajnYasamaya: pramAnNam vEdhAchcha” ( :
) meaning the acts of the knowers of vEdham is the primary source of
knowledge and vEdham is the secondary source. The king prepares a pouch filled with
great wealth as the prize for the one who establishes the truth and hangs that in a
decorative ceiling. He invites the scholars from all over the region to assemble at his
palace for a debate.
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:
:
All the sounds naturally originate from akAram; All the meanings (or the objects) of
those sounds naturally originate from brahmmam. So, it can be understood that the
relationship between akAram and brahmmam is natural as well.
இ , ,
, ,
That from which this whole universe and the beings are created, on which the whole
universe is sustained, in which it merges during destruction, where the beings reach
upon attaining mOksham, know that and know that to brahmam. Thus jagath
kAraNathva (being the cause of the universe), mumukshu upAsyathva (being the object
of the worship for the ones who desire to get mOksham) and mOksha pradhathva
(having the ability to benedict mOksham to a jIvAthmA) are identified as the most
important qualities of the supreme being.
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As stated in vishNu purANam, this universe appears from vishNu; it subsides in vishNu
during praLayam (when there is no creation); He is the one who sustains it and
annihilates it; He also has the whole universe as his sarIram (body).
As stated in varAha purANam, there has not been a higher being than nArAyaNan in
the past or present, nor there will be on in the future. This is the most confidential
message of vEdham and is accepted in purANams as well.
As stated in nAradhIya purANam, I declare this 3 times (emphasis) with raised hands –
there is no god greater (or other) than kEsavan and there is no sAsthram greater (or
other) than vEdham.
periyAzhwAr, thus established the parathvam of srIman nArAyaNan using the above
pramANams and many more from smruthi, ithihAsams, purANams, etc. At once, the
pouch of wealth (prize for the winner) automatically comes down from the ceiling by the
divine will, periyAzhwAr fetches the prize quickly.
Seeing this, the scholars who rejected periyAzhwAr, the king and every one become
extremely pleased and offers their obeisances to him. They declare that periyAzhwAr
revealed the essence of vEdhAntham in pristine clarity and with great affection,
arranges for a grand procession for AzhwAr on the ceremonial elephant. On the side, all
the scholars carry chathram (umbrellA), chAmaram (soft fan), etc and proclaim that “All
glories to the most trustworthy person who shows the essence of vEdham has arrived”.
The king srI vallabha dhEvan honours him with the title pattarpirAn meaning one who
has done great favours to bhattars (great scholars) by revealing the most valuable
details of knowledge. The king also joins the procession and there is grand celebration
everywhere.
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paramapadhanAthan, seeing these, just like a mother/father will be very happy to
participate in an event where their sons are glorified, he also wants to join the great
celebration. Along with srI mahAlakshmI (sriyapathithvam – being the husband of pirAtti
is his main identity) climbs up on the magnificient garudAzhwAn, emperumAn having
decorated with pAnchajanyam and sudharshanAzhwAn, arrives on the sky. To see him
and AzhwAr together, all dhEvathais of this material world like brahman, rudhran,
indhran, etc., arrive immediately along with their family and subordinates. periyAzhwAr
being blessed by emperumAn and able to visualize the arrival of srIman nArAyaNan
and the others, instead of being proud about the celebrations for him and their arrival for
him, at once sees emperumAn and starts worrying about emperumAn’s presence in this
material world. Being blessed with divine knowledge, even though he understands
srIman nArAyaNan is sarvagya (onmiscient), sarvasaktha (omnipotent), etc., and is
undefeatable by any one, out of great love towards emperumAn, he starts thinking
about emperumAn’s tender, delicate nature. It is said in sAsthram that emperumAn’s
dhivya mangaLa vigraham (divine auspicious body) is made of pancha upanishadh
(spiritual components) and is constantly enjoyed by nithyasUris in paramapadam which
is not reachable for even great sages or dhEvathais of this world like brahmA, rudhran,
etc., what to speak of asuras/rAkshasas (demoniac people). But he has left that divine
abode and entered into this material world which is full of ignorant and demoniac people
and is ruled by kali in this yugam. AzhwAr starts thinking “emperumAn has arrived here
and may become the victim of dhrushti (inauspicious looks/thoughts) as well, so let us
pray for his well being now” and picks up the bell from the neck of the elephant which is
carrying him and starts singing thiruppallANdu at once. Forgetting his own svarUpam as
dependent and emperumAn’s svarUpam as fully independent and capable, AzhwAr out
of great love, invites everyone (ishvaryArthi – one who desires wealth, kaivalyArthi –
one who desires for AthmAnubhavam, bhagavath charaNArthi – one who desires for
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eternal kainkaryam to emperumAn) along with him and sings thiruppallANdu. srIman
nArAyaNan then returns to his abode happily after the celebrations.
Subequently, periyAzhwAr blesses the king and he is well honoured by the king.
Wanting to serve vatapathrasAyi again, AzhwAr returns to srIvilliputhUr and offers all
the wealth that was given to him by the king to the emperumAn there. According to
manu smrithi, it is said that:
Wife, servant, son who does not own anything. All they earn will belong to their
respective owners (husband, master and father).
According to this periyAzhwAr also offered everything to his master vatapathrasAyi and
tells him “since these are earned by your grace these belong to you alone”. Completing
the additional task, he then goes back to his routine kanikaryam of preparing many
fresh variety of garlands with great affection and continues offering them to
vatapathrasAyi like srI mAlAkArar prepared and offered them to krishNan and glorified
him. Becoming greatly attached with kaNNan emperumAn’s charithram starting from his
birth through his divine pastimes, he takes the bhAvam of yasOdhai and greatly relishes
his sauseelyam (magnanimity) and saulabhyam (easy accessibility). Such overflowing
emotions resulted in him revealing the divine prabhandham named periyAzhwAr
thirumozhi. Contemplating on srIya:pathi allways, He nourished and uplifted his sishyas
and abhimAnis who were surrendered to him and blessed everyone in the world.
Its not over yet, his divine charithram is further explained in ANdAL’s charithram which
can be read at http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/andal/.
His thanian
gurumukam anadhIthya prAhavE thAn asEshAn
narapathi parikluptham sulkamAdhAthu kAma:
svasuram amara vandhyam ranganAthasya sAkshAth
dhvija kula thilakam vishNuchiththam namAmi
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His archAvathAra anubhavam is already discussed in here –
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-periyazhwar.html.
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ANdAL
AchAryan: periyAzhwAr
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In thiruppAvai 6000 padi vyAkyAnam, periyavAchAn piLLai first establishes the
greatness of ANdAL over all other AzhwArs. He builds a beautiful layer of different
categories of jIvAthmAs and shows the difference between each category.
piLLai lOkAchAriar brings out the divine glories of ANdAL in a few sUthrams in his
srIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram. Let us enjoy some of that here.
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gives many examples where great personalities desired to take different births
which are condusive for bhagavath anubhavam/kainkaryam. In this sUthram, he
explains that periyAzhwAr and ANdAL, even though born in great brAhmaNa
families, they themselves desired to be the cowherd girls of vrindhAvan. ANdAL
specifically showed that kainkaryam that pleases emperumAn is the most
important goal and one must glorify and desire for such kainkaryam in whatever
form.
sUthram 285 – koduththuk koLLAthE konNdaththukkuk kaikkUli kodukkavEnNum
(
). In this prakaraNam, piLLai lOkAchAriar is explaining how
one should do kainkaryam. This is related to sUthram 238 – in that sUthram
piLLai lOkAchAryar shows one should desire for kainkaryam that pleases
emperumAn. In the previous sUthram (284), piLLai lOkAchAriar explains that
kainkaryam should done be with out any expectation in return, i.e., we should not
do kainkaryam to get something else. In this sUthram, he says that kainkaryam
should be done and when emperumAn gets pleased we should do more
kainkaryam to him. mAmunigaL explains this concept beautifully using ANdAL’s
words. ANdAL says in NAchiar thirumozhi 9.7 “inRu vaNthu iththanaiyum
cheythidapperil, NAn onRu NURu AyiramAgak koduththu pinnum ALum
cheyvan” (இ இ ,
). In the
previous pAsuram she says she wants to offer 100 plates of butter and 100
plates of sweet rice to thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar. In this pAsuram she says
seeing emperumAn accepting her offerings, to show her gratitude towards
emperumAn, she will offer more such offerings to please emperumAn further and
keep doing it (without expecting anything other than his happiness from him
ever). Thus she shows her the pinnacle of our sampradhAyam so easily in her
pAsurams.
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emperumAn like a woman is dependent on her husband to be able to understand the
intricacies of thiruppAvai and the heart of ANdAL. He further explains that “Even
amongst women, not even emperumAn’s pirAttis who are constantly looking for
anubhavam (and having the same) with emperumAn can explain/hear about the subject
matter of thiruppAvai. ANdAL (who reflects the best aspects of all the AzhwArs put
together) is the only person with qualification and bhAvam to explain and hear about the
subject matter of thiruppAvai”. Such is the greatness of ANdAL and her thiruppAvai.
mAmunigaL also glorifies ANdAL’s greatness in upadhEsa rathina mAlai pAsurams 22,
23 and 24.
In the 22nd pAsuram, he becomes greatly emotional thinking about how ANdAL
gave up her comforts in paramapadham and stepped down to samsAram to
protect him (svAnubhavam) and took birth as the divine daughter of periyAzhwAr.
Just like if a mother sees her child caught in a river, she also jumps into the river
to save the child, ANdAL being the mother of all, she jumps into samsAram to
save the samsAris.
In the 23rd pAsuram, he says there is no equal to the birth day of ANdAL
“thiruvAdi pUram” just like there is none equal to ANdAL.
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In the 24th pAsuram, he says ANdAL is the daughter of “anju kudi” and her
activities are far greater than other AzhwArs and how she developed love for
emperumAn right at a very young age. piLLai lOkam jIyar in his vyAkyAnam
explains that “anju kudi” means:
o descendant of the clan which contains all the AzhwArs just like parikshIth
was the great descendant of the pancha pANdavas.
o the descendant of AzhwArs who are part of the prapanna kulam
o the descendant of periyAzhwAr who is always worried (achcham – fear)
about emperumAn and performing mangaLAsAsanam.
her own words in nAchiAr thirumozhi, pAsuram 10.10, ANdAL says “villiputhuvai
vittuchiththar thangaL dhEvarai valla parichu varuvipparEl athu kAnNdumE”
(
). She says, if periyAzhwAr can convince his
dear emperumAn to come here, she will worship him.
mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai, after explaining the 10 AzhwArs,
introduces ANdAL, madhurakavi AzhwAr and emperumAnAr together since all 3
of them are AchArya nishtars.
ANdAL was born in srIvilliputhUr (where nAchiAr temple is now seen) near a thuLasi
mAdam. Just like sIthA pirAtti was born from the earth when janakarAjan was ploughing
the field and was named sItha (named after the plough which means sIthA),
periyAzhwAr found ANdAL who is an avathAram of bhUmi pirAtti near a thuLasi mAdam
and named her kOdhai (which means a garland).
As she was growing up, she was fed with emperumAn’s divine leelais by periyAzhwAr.
periyAzhwAr was regularly making garlands and offering them to vatapathrasAyi
emperumAn. She shows great attachment to emperumAn and want to marry him only.
Once, in his absence, ANdAL took a garland which was ready to be offered for
emperumAn, wore it and checked if it fits her and also checks if she looks like a good
match for emperumAn. periyAzhwAr returns and he offers those garlands to
emperumAn. This routine goes on for some time and one day periyAzhwAr notices that
ANdAL is wearing the garland before it is offered to emperumAn. He becomes very
anguished knowing about this and that particular day he does not offer the garland to
emperumAn. That night, emperumAn appears in the dream of periyAzhwAr and asks
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him why he did not bring garlands that day. AzhwAr says since it was first worn by
ANdAL it became unfit to be worn by emperumAn. emperumAn immediately tells him
that he actually likes the garlands worn by ANdAL first as they have the special
fragrance of bhakthi of ANdAL. AzhwAr becomes very pleased hearing this and then
after develops great attachment and respect towards ANdAL. After that, he offers the
garlands first to ANdAL and subsequently to emperumAn every day.
ANdAL nAchiAr, was born with parama bhakthi towards emperumAn (since she is
bhUmi pirAtti herself) who is naturally attached to emperumAn. Her attachment towards
emperumAn is far greater than AzhwArs’ attachment. Unable to bear the separation of
emperumAn she starts to look for ways to marry him. Following in the foot steps of
gOpis (cowherd girls) who acted out the pastimes of kaNNan emperumAn during his
sudden absence during rAsakrItai to sustain themselves, ANdAL pretends that
vatapathrasAyi is kaNNan emperumAn, his temple is NandhagOpan’s thirumALigai,
srIvilliputhur is thiruvAippAdi and her local friends are gOpis and starts singing
thiruppAvai.
establishes that prApyam (goal) and prApakam (path) are emperumAn only.
do’s and dont’s for srivaishnavas and all of that fully based on pUrvAchArya
anushtAnam (sistAchAram)
bhagavath anubhavam should be done as a group instead of doing it individually
(selfishly) – she wakes up 10 gOpis to go along with her to meet kaNNan
emperumAn
we should take shelter of emperumAn’s close adiyArs like dhvAra pAlakas,
balarAman, yasOdhai, nandhagOpan, etc., before going to emperumAn
we should always take the help (purushakAram) of pirAtti before going to
emperumAn
we should always perform mangaLAsAsanam to him
we should ask for kainkaryam to him – kainkaryam should be prayed for as it is
svarUpam for jIvAthmA to request emperumAn to accept his kainkaryam
that he is the upAyam to get that kainkaryam and we should never think that our
effort is the upAyam even a little bit
kainkaryam should be done for his pleasure only and we should not look for
anything in return
Even after that, emperumAn had still not appeared to emperumAn and accepted
ANdAL. So, ANdAL out of unbearable sorrow, calls out to emperumAn in her nAchiAr
thirumOzhi. Many great principles of our sampradhAyam are explained in nAchiAr
thirumOzhi and it is generally explained that one has to be very matured to even start
listening/reading nAchiAr thirumozhi’s meanings. In this she says that
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“mAnidavarkkenRu pEchchuppadil vAzhagillEn” (
) meaning “even if some one without my knowledge
talks about marrying me to some one else other than emperumAn I will die”. She
dreams about her marriage with emperumAn in her vAraNam Ayiram padhigam (9.6).
periyAzhwAr then explains to ANdAL the vaibhavam (greatness) of all the archAvathAra
emperumAns and ANdAL becomes very attached to thiruvaranganAthan. AzhwAr
becomes filled with anxiety thinking how he can fulfill ANdAL’s desire. One night, in his
dream, thiruvaranganAthan appears and asks him to bring ANdAL over to srIrangam so
that they can unite there. AzhwAr feels greatly satisfied with that and in the mean time
srIranganAthan sends a beautiful palanquin, chAmaram, umbrella and his
kainkaryaparars to srIvilliputhUr to bring ANdAL over. AzhwAr, after getting permission
from vatapathrasAyi, leaves to srIrangam along with ANdAL in the closed palanquin
with mELam (band music), etc in a grand procession.
After entering srIrangam, ANdAL who was most beautifully decorated, stepped out of
the palanquin, entered the temple and subsequently into the garbagruham of periya
perumAL and touched the lotus feet of emperumAn. Immediately she vanished and
reached the divine abode of paramapadham.
Every one became astonished seeing these events and started glorifying periyAzhwAr.
periya perumAL immediately declares that periyAzhwAr has also become his father-in-
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law just like samudhrarAjan and gives him special honors.and in returns to srIvilliputhUr
to continue his kainkaryams to vatapathrasAyi emperumAn.
ANdAL’s unlimited glories are heard so many times (atleast once an year during
mArgazhi month) but every time we hear/read about them, they always feel like new
and there are so many divine principles that we find in her life and prabhandhams every
time we read them.
To have a glimpse of the true glories of ANdAL and thiruppAvai, we can end with
bhattar‘s divine words. bhattar says that one should recite the 30 pAsurams of
thiruppAvai every day. If that is not possible at least one should recite the chiRRam
chirukAlE pAsuram every day. Even if that is not possible, at least one should think that
there was bhattar who had great attachment to thiruppAvai – simply that thinking itself
will please emperumAn. Just like when a mother cow starts giving milk even when she
sees a fake calf (which is made of straws and covered with calf’s skin), emperumAn will
see us thinking about bhattar’s attachment towards thiruppAvai or us reciting 1 pAsuram
or reciting 30 pAsurams – as long as we have some connection with ANdAL
emperumAn will shower us with his causeless mercy, since that is what ANdAL (as
bhUmi pirAtti) requested varAhan emperumAn. Out of her causeless mercy, ANdAL
took birth in this samsAram and sung thiruppAvai, so that we can also be blessed with
the divine grace of emperumAn and be permanently relieved of the pains of this
samsAram and enjoy bhagavath anubhavam/kainkaryam in paramapadham.
Her thanian
nILA thunga sthanagiri thatI suptham uthpOdhya krishNam
pArArthyam svam shruthi shatha shiras sidhdham adhyApayanthI
svOchishtAyAm srajinikaLitham yAbalAth kruthya bhungthE
gOdhA thasyai nama itham itham bhUya EvAsthu bhUya:
இ இ :
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thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr
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AchAryan: vishwaksEnar
nanjIyar, in his vyAkyAna avathArikai for thiruppaLLiyeLuchi, identifies that AzhwAr was
in samsAram as per “anAdhi mAyayA suptha:” (since time immemorial, he was sleeping
(due to ignorance) in this samsAam) and emperumAn wakes him up (gives him
blemishless knowledge). But periya perumAL is in yOga nidhrai after that, and AzhwAr
takes his turn to awake him and request him to engage him in kainkaryam.
periyavAchAn piLLai, in his vyAkyAna avathArikai for thiruppaLLiyeLuchi, brings out the
glories of AzhwAr through AzhwAr’s own pAsurams. When AzhwAr was awakened by
emperumAn, AzhwAr after realising his svarUpam, goes to periya perumAL only to find
him lying down with his eyes closed instead of welcoming him, enquiring about his well
being, etc. It cannot be said that periya perumAL is not interested in AzhwAr since
AzhwAr is very dear to emperumAn and vice versa. It can also not be said that periya
perumAL is lying down out of indigestion because these defects are only seen in
material nature which is filled with thamO guNam – but periya perumAL is fully spiritual
– so there is no question of that. The reason for periya perumAL’s lying down on
meditation is because he is contemplating to how to reform everyone like he reformed
AzhwAr who has the following great qualities:
He has full knowledge that this prakruthi sambandham (relationship with matter)
is not appropriate for jIvAthmA as he says “AthalAl piRavi vEnNdEn” (
) meaning I no longer want to be born in this samsAram.
He has full knowledge of svarUpa yAthAthmya jnAnam (understanding the true
nature of the soul) is bhAgavatha sEshathvam as he says “pOnagam cheytha
chEtam tharuvarEl punidham” (
) meaning if a srivaishnava gives the remnants of the food he/she
consumed that is very sacred.
He has clear understanding of material vs spiritual aspirations as he says
“ichchuvai thavira achchuvai peRinum vEnNdEn” (இ
) meaning I only want to enjoy periya perumAL and
nothing more.
He has full control of his own indhriyams (senses) as he says “kAvalil pulanai
vaiththu” ( ) meaning I have controlled my senses.
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He has completely given up all other upAyams as he says “kuLiththu mUnRu
analai Ombum kuRikoL aNadhanNamai thannai oLiththittEn” (
)
meaning I have given up the path of karma yOgam, etc.
He has complete understanding of the upAya yAthAthma jnAnam (true upAyam)
as he says “un aruL ennum Achai thannAl poyyanEn vaNdhu NinREn” (
), I
have come here fully depending on your krupai (mercy) as the upAyam.
Finally, periyavAchAn piLLai says, since AzhwAr has these great qualities he is very
dear to periya perumAL as said in “vAzhum chOmbarai ugaththi pOlum” (
) meaning those who fully surrender to emperumAn are
very dear to him.
mAmunigaL glorifies AzhwAr as the one who is glorified by the ones who have
mastered the vEdhams since they are the ones who truly understand the essence of
vEdhams and observe/glorify AzhwAr’s activities which are fully in line with the essence
of sAsthram. We have already seen this and archAvathAra anubhavam of AzhwAr in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-thondaradippodi.html.
With the divine blessings during his birth by namperumAL, AzhwAr was born as
sudhdha sathva nishtar and was named vipranArAyaNar. He undergoes proper
samskArams like chauLam, upanayanam, etc. at the proper age and learns all
vEdhams with their angams and meanings. Developing great knowledge and
detachment, he enters srIrangam and worships periya perumAL. periya perumAL, being
pleased with his devotion, enhances his bhakthi further by showing his divine beauty
and makes him stay in srIrangam forever.
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Once, a beautiful vEsyA (courtezan) named dhEva dhEvi from thirukkarambanUr was
returning from uraiyUr, enters the garden of AzhwAr and gets amazed by the beauty of
the garden, the flowers, the birds, etc.
At that time they see vipranArAyaNar who looks very beautiful with long hairs on head
and face, wearing pure vasthrams (clothes), thuLasi/lotus mAlais, urdhva puNdrams,
etc with water and garden equipments in his hand. While they were looking at him,
vipranArAyaNar was sincerely focussing on his kainkaryam without noticing them at all.
dhEva dhEvi asks her sister and friends “is he mad or unmanly, how come he is not
looking at a beautiful girl like me standing in front of him?”. Her friends inform her that
he is vipranArAyaNar who is a kainkaryaparar of namperumAL and will not bother about
her beauty. They say that they will give 6 months time to mesmerize him and change
him to be mad at her and if she does so, they will agree that she is the most beautiful
girl and will serve for 6 months as her maid-servant. She agrees and gives her valuable
jewels, etc to her friends and assume a sAthvika form/dress.
She then goes and prostrates at AzhwAr and tells him that she wants to surrender to a
bhAgavatha who is performing confidential service to emperumAn. She approaches
AzhwAr and tells him, she can wait until AzhwAr comes back after his mAdhukaram
(bhikshai). AzhwAr agrees and she goes on to serve for some time eating the sEsha
prasAdham of AzhwAr.
One day, when dhEva dhEvi was working in the garden, it rains heavily. So, she slowly
enters the Ashramam of vipranArAyaNar. Seeing her fully drenched, vipranArAyaNar
gives his upper cloth to her. After that vipranArAyAnar and dhEva dhEvi becomes
intimate to each other like butter and fire. The next day, she brings back her jewels and
attractive clothes and wears them and presents her beautiful form to him. He then
becomes so attached to her and completely forgets and gives up his kainkaryam itself.
She shows some affection towards him for some time and he becomes fully
surrendered to her. After taking all his wealth away, she pushes him out and asks him to
leave her place. He then becomes very sad and stays at the entrance of her house
waiting for her to accept him. At that time, periya perumAL and periya pirAtti happens to
pass that street for their divine walk. pirAtti asks emperumAn who is that person waiting
at the entrance of the prostitute? and emperumAn replies that he is vipranArAyaNar
who was a kainkaryaparar for him and now has become mad on her and is suffering
due to that. pirAtti then initiates her purushkAram and asks emperumAn “How can you
leave a confidential devotee even if he becomes attached to vishayAntharam? Please
remove his mAyai and bless him again to become a close servant of us”. emperumAn
agrees and he picks up one of the gold utensils (part of the pancha pAthram used in
thiruvArAdhanam) from his sannidhi and goes to dhEva dhEvi’s house (in a different
identify/form – not as his own self) and knocks at her door. When she opens the door
and asks him who he was, he says, his name is azhagiya maNavALan who is a
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messenger of vipranArAyaNar and tells her that he gifted this gold utensil for her. She
becomes very pleased and asks him to send vipranArAyaNar inside. He then goes to
vipranArAyaNar and informs him that dhEva dhEvi invited him inside. Hearing these
sweet words, he becomes very pleased and enters her house and they become
immersed in material pleasures yet again. periya perumAL returns to his sannidhi and
happily lies down on his AdhisEshan paryankam.
The next day, when the sannidhi is opened by the kainkaryaparars, they notice that one
of the utensils is missing and they inform that to the king. The king then becomes angry
with the kainkaryaparars for their negligence. When one of the maid servants goes to
bring water from the well, she hears one of her relatives being the target of the king’s
anger and so informs him that vipranArAyaNar gave a gold utensil to dhEva dhEvi and it
is under her pillow. That kainkaryaparar informs that to the soldiers of the king and they
Immediately go to dhEva dhEvi’s place, locate the gold utensil and arrest both
vipranArAyaNar and dhEva dhEvi. When they are brought to the king’s court, the king
asks her “Even if some one brings periya perumAL‘s utensil, how can you accept it?”
and she replies “I dont know that this is perumAL’s utensil; vipranArAyaNar sent this as
his own utensil through his messenger named azhagiya maNavALan and I accepted it
without doubting it”. vipranArAyaNar says that neither he has a messenger nor he owns
any gold utensil. Hearing these, the king slaps a fine on dhEva dhEvi and releases her.
He then offers to utensil back to emperumAn and asks his soldiers to keep
vipranArAyaNar in the jail until further investigation can be done in the robbery case.
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anything other emperumAn as worthy, AzhwAr also said “indhira lOkam ALum
achchuvai perinum vENdEn” (இ
) meaning I dont even want to think about paramapadham – I only want
periya perumAL‘s anubhavam in srIrangam. He also shows his upakAra smrithi
(gratitude) towards periya perumAL constantly for reforming him and becomes fully
attached to periya perumAL only unlike other AzhwArs who have travelled to and sung
many archAvathAra emperumAns. Looking at his unflinching faith and attachment
towars him, namperumAL also reciprocates such love towards him, blesses him with
blemishless knowlege and shows his names, forms, divine activities etc., of parathvAdhi
panchakam (the 5 different manifestations of emperumAn explained in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-parathvadhi.html) in
thiruvarangam itself. Also, looking at his devotion, dhEva dhEvi becomes purified and
offers all her wealth to periya perumAL and constantly serves emperumAn.
AzhwAr being fully situated in para bhakthi, para gyAna and parama bhakthi and fully
understanding that periya perumAL is everything for him, enjoys periya perumAL
constantly through thirumanthra anusandhAnam and nAma sankIrthanam.
Understanding his divine position, he declares that srivaishnavas need not fear for
yaman. He says the servants of yaman will look out for the thiruvadi of srivaishnavas
while srivaishnavas will look out for the thiruvadi of other srivaishnavas as their object of
worship. Thus he sings thirumAlai infront of periya perumAL just like saunaka rishi
explained the glories of emperumAn’s divine names to sadhAnandhar. Just like
nammAzhwAr identified the defects of achith (24 elements: mUla prakruthi; mahAn;
ahankAram; manas; pancha jnAnEndhriyam, pancha karmEndhriyam, pancha
thanmAthrai, pancha bhUtham), AzhwAr also identifies the achith thathvam clearly as
“puRam chuvar Ottai mAdam” ( ) meaning this body is
just the outside wall and the AthmA is the in-dweller and controller. He then declares the
svarUpam of jIvAthmA as servant of emperumAn’s bhakthas in “adiyarOrkku”
( ) meaning this jIvAthmA is the servant of bhAgavathas. He, being a
thirumanthra nishtar, reveals that emperumAn is the only upAyam in the “mEmporuL”
( ) pAsuram which is the essence of thirumAlai prabhandham. Finally he
declares that service to bhAgavathas is the ultimate goal of srivaishNavas in the
pAsurams following “mEmporuL” pAsuram and in the last pAsuram of
thiruppaLLiyeLuchi by requesting emperumAn as “unnadiyArkkAtpaduththAy”
( ) meaning make me subservient to your devotees.
Thus, he revealed these high principles in two divine prabhandhams named thirumAlai
and thirppaLLiyeLuchi for the upliftment of the whole world.
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His thanian
thamEva mathvA paravAsudhEvam rangEchayam rAjavadharhaNiyam
prAbhOdhikIm yOkrutha sUkthimAlAm bhakthAngrirENum bhagavanthamIdE
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thiruppANAzhwAr
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar
Works: amalanAdhipirAn
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It is explained in pUrvAchArya charithram that ALavandhAr had special attachment
towards thiruppANAzhwAr who is also known muni vAhanar.
thiruppANAzhwAr being in a totally different level than other AzhwArs, is fully focussed
on enjoying archAvathAra emperumAn alone, that too periya perumAL. Since katavalli
(upanishadh) declares archAvathAram is the complete manifestation of emperumAn,
AzhwAr engaged in simply glorifying periya perumAL.
Just like krishNan gave divine eyes to arjunan and showed him his viswarUpam and like
he attracted akrUrar, mAlAkArar, etc by showing his beauty, magnanimity, etc., periya
perumAL even though being in archA samAdhi (where he does not interact with
ordinary people), he showed AzhwAr his beauty and AzhwAr at once enjoys it through
out the divine form of periya perumAL.
Since AzhwAr was born in panchama kulam, naichyam (humility) is janma sidhdham
(natural by birth). So, he did not have to assume naichyam like other AzhwArs since he
naturally had it. He himself considers himself as outside four varNams (as panchama)
and periya perumAL also considers himself as outside four varNams (as nithyasUri).
Just like thiruvadi (hanuman) declared to srI rAman that he wants to constantly be
immersed in rAma anubhavam and did not want to even go to paramapadham, AzhwAr
also only wanted to be immersed in periya perumAL‘s anubhavam and nothing else.
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Because of his greatness, just like srI rAman sent sugrIva mahArAjar to bring srI
vibhIshaNAzhwAn over to him, periya perumAL sends srI lOka sAranga mahAmuni to
bring AzhwAr over to periya kOil. When srI lOka sAranga mahAmuni invites AzhwAr,
AzhwAr out of humility refuses to enter the kshEthram. So, mahAmuni then insists him
and carries him on his shoulders and brings him over to periya perumAL. AzhwAr sings
9 pAsurams of his dhivya prabhandham amalanAdhipirAn on the way and completes
the 10th pAsuram inside the main sannidhi in srIrangam and at once reaches the divine
abode of paramapadham to be with paramapadhanAthan and all the nithyas/mukthas
eternally glorifying him.
It is said that whoever breathes cauvEri river’s air, they will get mOksham – what to
speak about the ones who live on the banks of that river. nichuLApuri (uraiyUr) is one
such kingdom on the banks of cauvEry which had great temples, palaces, etc. There
was a king named chOLa bhUpathi coming in sUrya vamsam who was ruling very
virtuously. Like srI mahAlakshmi appeared from samudhra rAjan (king of kShIrAbdhi),
nILA dhEvi (consort of paramapadhanAthan) appears as uraiyUr nAchiyAr as the
daughter of dharmavarmA who is very attached to namperumAL (srI ranganAthan). She
grew up always contemplating on namperumAL and once she became matured, she
went to a garden in the kingdom. At that time namperumAL arrives at the same place
for hunting. Seeing him, uraiyUr nAchiyAr becomes greatly attached and informs her
father that she would marry only namperumAL. dharmavarmA, greatly joyed hearing
that, goes to namperumAL and informs that to him. namperumAL being very pleased to
hear that, accepts that and orders him to arrange for the wedding. A grand wedding
happens, where dharmavarmA gives uraiyUr nAchiyAr to namperumAL like janakarAjan
gave sIthA pirAtti to srI rAman. The king gives great wealth to namperumAL as
srIdhanam and continues ruling the kingdom.
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jAyamANam hi purusham yam pachyEN madhusUdhaNa:
sAthvikassa thu vijnYEyas sa vai mOkshArththa chiNthaka:
:
:
When madhusUdhanan emperumAn blesses a jIvAthmA during his birth, he will be born
with pure sathva guNam. Such jIvAthmA will be fully focussed on mOksham only.
Once, srI lOka sAranga mahAmuni arrives to the place where AzhwAr is present to
bring thIrtham (water) for kainkaryam. He sees AzhwAr being fully immersed in
anubhavam, but considering his birth, he asks him to move away so that he can fetch
water. AzhwAr being immersed in bhagavath anubhavam, does not hear/realize
mahAmuni’s words. mahAmuni throws a stone towards AzhwAr which hits him on his
forehead and blood starts oozing out. Realizing his action, AzhwAr at once feels very
bad for interrupting mahAmuni’s kainkaryam, asks for forgiveness and moves away
quickly. lOka sAranga mahAmuni then bathes, performance his nithya
karmAnuushtAnams and brings water for periya perumAL kainkaryam also along with
chathram (umbrella), chAmaram (fan), mELam (drum), thALam, etc (as it is customary
do so while bring thIrtham for emperumAn). periya perumAL being distressed with lOka
sAranga muni’s action, nAchiyAr asks perumAL “How can we allow pAN perumAL (as
AzhwAr is affectionately called) to be outside our sannidhi?”, periya perumAL at once
shuts his sannidhi doors and with anger asks lOka sAranga muni “How can you do this
to my dear devotee?”. lOka sArangar realizes his mistake immediately and is upset with
himself very much. He then asks periya perumAL “I have done this great bhAgavatha
apachAram (offense). How can I be saved from this great mistake?”. periya perumAL
replies out of great mercy towards pAN perumAL and his total independence (of not
anyone being able to question him) that “You now go and bring him her by carrying him
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on your shoulders with great devotion” in his dream that night. lOka sArangar wakes up
early in the morning and thinks that this day is a great day for him as akrUra thought
“adhyamE sapalam jaNma suprabhAthA cha mE NichA” (
) meaning Today my life became meaningful and it is a great
dawn for me today when kamsan asked him to go and bring balarAman/krishNan to
mathurA. He went to the cauvery river along with pure hearted devotees, took bathe
and performed his nithyAnushtAnams.
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lOka sAranga mahAmuni, thiruppANAzhwAr, namperumAL
periya perumAL manifests his divine form which is shown to nithyasUris in front of
AzhwAr and AzhwAr starts reciting amalanAdhipirAn with beautiful music from his divine
vINai and sings 9 pAsurams outside the sannidhi. Once he enters the sannidhi of periya
perumAL, periya perumAL manifests in front of him beautifully as explained in srIranga
mAhAthmiyam as follows:
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AzhwAr after entering the sannidhi of such magnificent emperumAn who is worshipped
by everyone starting from brahmA, just like an infant will only look for the breast of the
mother which sustains the infant, AzhwAr looks for the lotus feet because the
surrendered ones always sustain by meditating and praying at the lotus feet of the
master. This is why AzhwAr also stated in his first pAsuram itself that
“aranGgaththammAn thirukkamalapAdham vaNdhu en kanNnNinuLLana okkinRathE”
(
) meaning my master srI ranganAthan’s lotus feet reaches out and enters
into my eyes. arangaththammAn indicates sEshithvam (emperumAn being master),
kamalam (lotus) indicates bhOgyathvam (enjoyable) and pAdham indicates
upAyathvam (way to attain the goal). periyAzhwAr also glorified emperumAn from his
lotus feet to head in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 2nd padhigam in 20 pAsurams. Like
wise, thiruppANAzhwAr being brought over by lOka sAranga mahAmuni by the divine
orders of periya perumAL, enjoyed periya perumAL’s lotus feet to head fully and the
overflowing emotions resulted in the dhivya prabhandham named amalanAdhipirAn
which gives the essence of our sampradhAyam – thirumanthra artham – the detailed
explanation of thirumanthram. periya perumAL accepted thiruppANAzhwAr at once with
the same thirumEni and in front of every one AzhwAr ascended to parampadham
through the lotus feet of periya perumAL.
His thanian
ApAtha chUdam anubhUya harim chayAnam
madhyE kavEra hithur mudhithAnthrAthmA
adhrashtruthAm nayanayOr vishayANtharANAm
yO nischikAya manavai munivAhananm tham
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thirumangai AzhwAr
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Sishyas: His brother-in-law iLayAzhwAr, parakAla sishyar, nIrmEl nadappAn,
thALUthuvAn, thOrA vazhakkan, nizhalil maRaivAn, uyarath thonguvAn,
thirumangai AzhwAr had kept his AthmA (himself) in the hot sun and the body in the
pleasing shadow. Keeping AthmA in hot sun means not engaging in bhagavath
vishayam (spiritual matters) and keeping body in pleasing shadow means being
attached to materialistic aspirations since time immemorial and having that as the goal
in life. The real shadow is bhagavath vishayam only as it is said in “vAsudhEva tharuch
chAyA” ( ) meaning vAsudhEvan (krishNan) is the real
shadow giving tree. He is the original/only pleasing tree which gives shadow that
pleases us everywhere and all the time, This shadow can destroy any thApam (anguish)
and is neither too hot nor too cold. Because thirumangai AzhwAr was very attached to
vishyAntharam (material aspirations) which were pleasing to the eyes, emperumAn
diverts his attachment from vishayAntharam to the many dhivyadhEsams and
archAvathAra emperumAns who are most pleasing to the eyes and makes his mind fully
fixed on archAvathAra emperumAns and gives him full anubhavam that AzhwAr cannot
sustain himself without seeing emperumAn even for a moment. Further more,
emperumAn converts him to be at the stage of nithyas/mukthas while he is here in this
samsAram, develops his urge to reach paramapadham and ultimately benedicts him
with paramapadha prApthi also.
AzhwAr understands that “emperumAn only looked for AzwAr’s adhvEsham (that is
bhagavAn is trying to help jIvAthmA every moment and jIvAthmA is rejecting his help
since time immemorial, the moment jIvAthmA stops rejecting, that is enough for
emperumAn to uplift the jIvAthmA – this adhvEsham is explained as adhikAri
visEshaNam meaning a natural attribute of the jIvAthmA) and the limitations of material
aspirations to reform AzhwAr, AzhwAr’s taste for material aspirations as the key (and
diverted that taste towards emperumAn) and AzhwAr’s sins from time immemorial as
the target of emperumAn’s mercy and blessed AzhwAr by first revealing the
thirumanthram and emperumAn’s svarUpa (true nature), rUpa (forms), guNa (divine
qualities) and vibhUthi (wealth)”. AzhwAr being overwhelmed by these favours of
emperumAn, at once starts glorifying thirumanthram in his periya thirumozhi out of
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gratitude. It is the svarUpam of chith (sentient beings) to manifest the knowledge and
insentient being devoid of knowledge cannot appreciate anything. Thus to demonstrate
his gratitude and glorify emperumAn’s archAvathArams, AzhwAr sings these many
divine prabhanahdams.
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anNaiththa vElum, thozhukaiyum, azhuNthiya thiruNAmamum,
OmenRa vAyum, uyarNtha mUkkum, kuLirNtha mukamum,
paraNtha vizhiyum, irunNda kuzhalum, churunNda vaLaiyamum,
vadiththa kAthum, malarNtha kAthu kAppum, thAzhNtha cheviyum,
cheRiNtha kazhuththum, aganRa mArbum, thiranNda thOLum,
NeLiththa muthugum, kuviNtha idaiyum, allikkayiRum,
azhuNdhiya chIrAvum, thUkkiya karunGkOvaiyum,
thonGgalum, thani mAlaiyum, chAththiya thiruththanNdaiyum,
chathirAna vIrakkazhalum, kuNthiyitta kanNaikkAlum,
kuLira vaiththa thiruvadi malarum, maruvalartham udal thunNiya
vALvIchum parakAlan manGgaimannarAna vadivE enRum
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, , ,
, , ,
,இ , ,
, , ,
, , ,
, இ , ,
, ,
, , ,
, ,
,
While he grew up in his child hood without any attachment to bhagavath vishayam,
once he became a youth he became very materialistic. He had a strong body and great
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fighting skills with knowledge in handling many weapons and thus went to the chOla
bhUpathi (the king of the region) and requests him to include him in his army. The king
being pleased with neelan’s abilities appoints him as a commander of his army and
gives a small region to rule.
In the mean time, in thiruvAli dhivya dhEsam, in a beautiful pond, some apsaras sthrIs
(dancing gilrs from dhEva lOkam, etc) comes to play in the water. One such girl named
thirumAmagaL (kumudhavalli) goes to fetch some flowers and her friends leave the
place forgetting about her. She accepts a manushya sarIram (human form) and looks
for some help. A srIvaishnava vaidhyan (doctor) comes by that side and enquires about
him and she informs that her friends left her alone and the whole incident. Since he did
not have any children, he happily brings her home and introduces her to his wife and
they both happily accept her as their daughter and starts raising her. Seeing her beauty,
some people go and inform about her to neelan and becoming very attached to her
beauty, at once he goes to the bhAgavatha vaidhyar and starts a conversation. At that
time, kumudhavalli goes by and the vaidhyar tells neelan that he is worried about
marrying this girl to a proper man since he does not know her kulam, gOthram, etc.
neelan at once tells the vaidhyar that he wants to marry her and offers him great wealth.
The vaidhyar and his wife agrees to marry her to him but kumudhavalli puts forth a
condition saying she will only marry a srivaishnava who has had pancha samskAram
from an AchAryan. As it is said that an intelligent person will perform good things
immediately, neelan at once runs to thirunariyUr and goes in front of thirunariyUr nambi
and asks him to bless with panca samskAram. emperumAn out of his divine grace
performs him sanka chakra lAnchanam and thirumanthra upadhEsam.
Urdhva puNdram must be applied in 12 parts of the body, facing upwards with proper
gaps in between and using white colored sand from dhivya dhEsams.
Thus AzhwAr returned to kumudhavalli, wearing dvAdhasa urdhva puNdram and asks
kumudhavalli to marry him. kumudhavalli says that she will marry him, but will accept
him as husband only when AzhwAr performs thadhiyArAdhanam for one full year for
1008 srIvaishnavas every day without fail. AzhwAr agrees for the condition out of his
attachment towards kumudhavalli and they both are married in a grand ceremony.
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It is said in padhma purANam that:
AzhwAr continued his thadhIyArAdhanam and his wealth eventually became exhausted.
He then decides to continue the kainkaryam even by robbing wealthy people who pass
by his region. He robs the wealth people and performs thadhIyArAdhanam with great
devotion. sarvEsvaran, thinking that, even if he is robbing the wealthy people, atleast he
is spending the money in feeding srIvaishnavas thus being situated in charama
purushArtham (ultimate goal), decides to uplift him from samsAram by blessing him with
divine blemishless knowledge. As it is said that srIman nArAyaNan takes a human form
(as AchAryan) and with the help of sAsthram uplifts the jIvAthmA who suffers in the
samsAram, emperumAn starts going towards AzhwAr’s place along with nAchiyAr with
wedding costumes as vayalAli maNavALan with beautiful ornaments and with a big
wedding party. AzhwAr, being excited at the opportunity of getting a big bounty,
surrounds the emperumAn with his wedding party and robs them of everything. Finally,
AzhwAr bites off the toe ring from emperumAn’s lotus feet and emperumAn being
greatly amazed at AzhwAr’s valour proclaims “Nam kaliyanO” ( )
meaning Are you my kaliyan? (kaliyan means one who is great in valour).
nAradhIya purANam
For the one who desires to attain salvation, ashtAksharam which is the essence of all
vEdhAntham and one that can help cross the ocean of samsAram is the only refuge.
nArAyaNa upanishadh
, இ , ,
, இ ,
Om should be recited first, followed by Nama: and NArAyaNAya; Om has one letter,
nama: is made of two letters and NArAyaNAya is made of 5 letters (thus this manthram
contains 8 letters and called ashtAksharam). Thus sAsthram gives the exact structure of
ashtAksharam and how it should be recited without any doubt.
nAradhIya purANam
Beyond all of these, this ashtAkshara mahA manthram is the one which is accepted by
pUrvAchAryas who are great intellectuals as said in thirumozhi 7.4.4 as “pErALan
pErOdhum periyOr” ( ) meaning the great
personalities who recite the names of emperumAn. Also, AzhwAr himself reveals in the
first padhigam of periya thirumozhi itself as “peRRa thAyinum Ayina cheyyum
Nalamtharum chollai NAn kanNdu konNdEn’ (
) meaning I found the
manthram that will do me good even better than ones own mother.
After hearing the thirumanthram from emperumAn, emperumAn then shows him his
divine form along with srImahAlakshmi who is mercy personified on the divine
garudAzhwAr whose body shines like beautiful gold. He also blesses AzhwAr with
divine blemishless knowledge out of his nirhEthuka krupai (causeless mercy). AzhwAr,
after seeing all of those and understanding the blessing of emperumAn, which was
triggered by srImahAlakshmi thAyAr’s purushakAram, blesses everyone with 6
prabhandhams – periya thirumozhi, thirukkuRunthANdakam, thiruvezhukkURRirukkai,
siriya thirumadal, periya thirumadal and thirunedunthANdakam which are considered as
6 angams for nammAzhwAr’s four dhivya prabhandhams. His prabhandhams are made
of different forms of poetry – Asu, madhuram, chitham and vistharam and thus became
to be famously known as nAlu kavip perumAL.
AzhwAr wanting to build a fort around the temple, discusses with his sishyas about
getting the wealth to build the same. They reply that there is a vigraham of an avaidhiha
matham in nAgapattinam which is fully made of gold and if we can acquire that we can
do a lot of kainkaryam using that. AzhwAr at once leaves to nAgappattinam and finds a
lady and asks her if there is any secret information in that town. She says that her
mother-in-law use to say that there is a golden vigraham (deity) and the architect who
made that vigraham and the most protective vimAnam where the vigraham is kept, lives
in a different dvIpam (island/region of bhUlOkam). AzhwAr at once leaves to that place
along with his sishyas and enquire about the architect who is comparable to
vishwakarmA (the chief architect of dhEvas). The people direct AzhwAr to the palace
which is huge and beautiful and AzhwAr reaches the palace. Along with his sishyas he
started discussing about various things outside the palace and at that time the architect
steps outside after finishing his bathing and meal. Seeing him, AzhwAr strategically
says with great sorrow that “Oh! Some invaders came and destroyed the temple in
nAgappattinam and took away the golden vigraham. Why are we still living in this
world?”. Hearing this, the architect feels great pain, starts crying out loud and says “It
must be one of the mischievous sculptors who revealed the secret to open the peak of
the vimAnam through which any one can enter there. I made the most complicated key
AzhwAr along with his sishyas, at once leaves the place happily since the secret is
known, and reached the seashore to return to nAgappattinam. He sees a virtuous
merchant who is boarding his ship with a huge shipment of nuts (pAkku) and blesses
him and requests him to leave them in the other side of the sea. He agrees and they all
board the ship and begin the journey. On the way, AzhwAr picks up a nut, cuts it into
half and gives it to the merchant and tells him that he will accept it back at the end of the
journey and asks him to give a small chit with his signature saying that “I owe AzhwAr
half the nut of my ship”. The merchant does so and after reaching nAgappattinam,
AzhwAr asks him to give half the load of the expensive nuts in the ship (to use that in
kainkaryam for srIrangam temple). The merchant is shocked and refuse to do so. They
both argue and decide to go bring all the merchants together to get a neutral judgement
and all the merchants declare that the merchant should give half the shipment to
AzhwAr. The merchant without any choice gives the money for half the shipment to
AzhwAr and leaves.
AzhwAr and his sishyas then go to the temple and hide there until the night. In the night
they break open the slab, retrieve the key, go to top of the vimAnam and opens the
entrance by rotating it both sides and see the most shining vigraham. Seeing AzhwAr,
the vigraham says “IyaththAl AgAthO irumbinAl AgAthO, bhUyaththAl mikkathoru
bhUthaththAl AgAthO, thEyathEy piththaLai NaRchembugaLAlAgAthO, mAyappon
vEnNumO mathiththennaip panNnNugaikkE” ( இ
, ,
,
) meaning “Could you not just use iron, copper,
bronze, etc? You needed me to be made of divine gold so that you can come and use
me in kainkaryam for bhagavAn”. AzhwAr then gets his brother-in-law to fetch the
vigraham and leaves the place with all of them.
In the next morning, they reach a small town, where in a small farm land which was just
ploughed, AzhwAr buries the virgaham for safety and rests there. When the farmers
arrive there and start ploughing the field, they find the vigraham and declare that it was
theirs. AzhwAr says it was his forefathers’ who buried it under the field. A debate follows
and AzhwAr finally says that he will show a document in the next morning proving his
ownership and the farmers agree and leave the place. AzhwAr and his sishyas, after
sunset, leave the place with the vigraham, reaches uththamar kOil dhivya dhEsam and
store the vigraham safely there. In the meantime, the temple incharge in nAgappattinam
along with the local leaders come to know about the stealing of the vigraham and traces
After the rainy season, they come back looking for the vigraham. He asks them to read
the document and as written in the document he returns a small finger. A debate rages
and they go to the mediators and the mediators give their judgement that according to
the agreement in the document, they can accept the finger and leave. They understand
AzhwAr’s smartness and leave without even accepting anything. AzhwAr subsequently
invites the architects of that temple and tells them that he wants to give some wealth to
them and that wealth is in a nearby island. He gets them all boarded on a boat and after
going some distance in the water, he signals to boatman, who jumps into a smaller boat
along with AzhwAr and tilts the boat that carries all the architects and drowns them.
AzhwAr returns to his place and the grand children of the architects arrive there and
enquire about their grandfathers. AzhwAr tells them that he showed them great wealth
in the island and they are packing them to bring them along over here. The
grandchildren suspecting AzhwAr, tells him that they would not leave unless their
grandfathers are brought back to life and returned to them. AzhwAr becomes very
worried and srIranganAthan appears in his dream and tells him “Do not worry anymore”.
He then asks all of them to go to Cauvery river, take a bath there, apply Urdhva
pundrams and arrive at my main mandapam and invite each of their grandfathers by
their names. They accept emperumAn’s orders and starts inviting their grandfathers one
by one. To their astonishment, every one arrive from behind srIranganAthan and appear
in front of them and tells them “By the divine grace of AzhwAr, we have now reached
periya perumAL’s lotus feet. You also take shelter of him, be here in this samsAram
happily for some time and get yourselves uplifted”. Following their grandfathers’ orders
every one of them accept AzhwAr as their AchAryan and return to their place
eventually.
periya perumAL then asks AzhwAr if he has any desires. AzhwAr tells periya perumAL
that he wants to worship emperumAn’s dhasAvathAram. periya perumAL tells him “If
that is your desire, you can install my archAvathAra vigrahams of dhasAvathAram” and
at once AzhwAr builds the sannidhi for dhasAvathAra emperumAns in srIrangam.
His thanian
kalayAmi kalidhvamsam kavim lOka dhivAkAram
yasya gObi: prakAsAbir Avidhyam nihatham thama:
: :
This article is based on the section that is available in 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam
immediately after AzhwArs' charithram, where the following principles are established:
The publisher of 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam identifies that this section is not
consistently found in the various original manuscripts and concludes that this section might have
been added by later day AchAryas to firmly establish the truth in some of these matters.
While dhivya prabhandhams of AzhwArs who appeared as thathva dharsis (one who fully
understands the truth) are considered as the most important pramANam (valid source of
knowledge), they present various aspects of srIman nArAyaNan and dhEvathAntharams (other
dhEvathas).
In many pAsurams, it is established by AzhwArs that all dhEvathas are created by srIman
nArAyaNan. Let us see some pramANams for that here:
Establishing that srIman nArAyaNan has given a place in his body for all dhEvathas
In many pAsurams, is established by AzhwArs that bhagavAn, just like giving his chest as the
residing place for srI mahAlakshmi who is hailed as vishNOsrIranapAyinI" (One who is the
wealth of vishNu and who never separates from him), who is eternally most auspicious and is
the main consort of bhagavAn, he gives place to brahmA, rudhran, etc who are situated in the
mode of rajas (passon) and thamas (ignorance).
In many pAsurams, it is established by AzhwArs that brahmA, rudhran, etc approach bhagavAn,
offer their obeisances and glorify him.
Establishing that other dhEvathas are not qualified enough to glorify srIman nArAyaNan
Thus AzhwArs have presented many different ideas about srIman nArAyaNan in relation to
other dhEvathas right from the beginning, in the middle and in the end. Can we trust such
dhivya prabhandhams as the most important pramANam for us?
AzhwArs right upfront establish their vairAgyam (detachment) towards other dhEvathas in many
pAsurams.
Thus AzhwArs established through various words from vEdham and various incidents that
srIman nArAyaNan is the supreme god and all other dhEvathas are subservient to him. This is
established in varAha purANam in the following slOkam:
: : :
srIman nArAyaNan (puNdarikAkshan - the lotus eyed) is the supreme god who is seen in the
vEdham and in the entire universe.
periyAzhwAr also established that srIman nArAyaNan's supremacy in the king's court in front of
many great scholars and got the reward from the madhurai king. He established that using
verses from vEdham and great sages.
vishNu purANam
If janArdhanan who is greatest amongst everyone and who is known as purusha gets pleased
with anyone, he achieves the eternal spiritual planet. I am confidently declaring this.
mahAbhAratham
There never was some one equal to NArAyaNan, there never is and there never will be. I can
accomplish everything using these most truthful words.
Thus based on the above pramANams, we can see that, AzhwArs are fully following what is
said in vEdham and are never bound to the any defects. We can also understand that they
would not display any inconsistency in their words. The reason why we see the various
pAsurams on the relationship between srIman nArAyaNan and other dhEvathas is due to the
nature and activities of these other dhEvathas. Let us see that now.
brahmA, shiva are subjected to karmA (repeated birth/death cycle based on ones own actions).
They achieve their position by great penances and are rewarded their posts by srIman
nArAyaNan for their efforts. This is explained in the following 2 slOkams:
mahAbhAratham
:
இ
It is heard that brahmA who was born from the lotus flower of srI mahAvishNu worships vishNu
for 1000 crore yugams and again becomes the main progenitor and heads the material creation.
mahAbhAratham
shiva who is a mahAthmA offers himself in the sarvamEdha yAgam and becomes the lord of
lords.
Thus, the various relationships between srIman nArAyaNan and other dhEvathas, as presented
by AzhwArs are perfectly valid based on the following:
these dhEvathas worship srIman nArAyaNan and are given their great positions to enjoy
the result of their penances by bhagavAn, their value of existence will diminish when
they ignore bhagavAn
when their sathva guNam arises they will be qualified to glorify bhagavAn
since they act against bhagavAn when their rajO/thamO guNam arises their glorification
of bhagavAn is not much preferred by bhagavAn, and
since their svarUpam, sustenance, action and inaction are fully dependent on bhagavAn
as the sarIram (body) fully depends on the jIvAthma/sarIri (soul).
: :
S S :
Achyuthan is the only master/controller of the whole creation and is fully capable. brahmA,
shiva, etc have certain powers/capabilities (which are a miniscule fraction of bhagavAn) and are
bhagavAn's amsams (forms).
Thus, we can conclude that AzhwArs' dhivya prabhandhams are the most important
pramANams based on the above explanations.
There are many slOkams from shruthi, smrithi, purANams, ithihAsams, etc that establish that
srIman nArAyaNan's antharyAmithvam for all other dhEvathas. Let us see them now:
vishNu purANam
sa Eva srujyas sa cha sargga karththA sa Eva pAthyaththi cha pAlyathE cha
brahmAdhyavasthApir achEshamUrththir vishnNur varishtO varadhO varEnNya:
The created beings are also him (his own forms); The creators like brahmA, etc are also him;
He is the one who sustains the universe; He is the one who swallows the universe; He is the
one who is being sustained. vishNu, the one who has everything as his body is the most
supreme; the one who can benedict; the one who is fit enough to be worshipped.
vishNu purANam
janArdhanan (srIman nArAyaNan) gets the names brahmA, vishNu, shiva while performing the
duties of creation, sustenance and destruction respectively.
thiruvAimozhi 2.7.12
shiva, brahma who are various forms of dhAmOdharan (one who was bound by yasOdhai on
his waist).
thiruvAimozhi 1.1.8
When bhagavAn is paramAthmA and these other dhEvathas are his sarIram (body), sometimes
they themselves are directly indicated as him because when something is mentioned about the
body it leads up to the soul (its actually intertwined). When a person says "I am fat, I am thin"
himself and others say "You have become fat, You have lost weight" - I and You refers to the
AthmA (soul) and fat and thin refers to the body. Similarly, if these dhEvathas are
explained/glorified some times it goes all the way to the paramAthmA (super soul) who controls
these dhEvathas.
Supreme god is the one who has all sentients as his body and all insentients as his body.
vichvarUpanYcha mAmajam
I am the one who has the whole world as my body and I am the unborn
இ S
rudhran's words - ka represents brahmA; I am the master of the ones who are focussed on
their bodies. We are born from you - so you are called kEsava (the master/controller of brahmA
and Isa).
Thus, we can see that sruthi, smruthi, ithihAsa, purANas establish that all the dhEvathas are
subservient to srIman nArAyaNan, they worship him and their everything depend on his will.
S :
srI mahAlakshmi never separates from srIman nArAyaNan who is the most supreme; she is his
dear consort, his power potency and has the same qualities like him.
It is shown in the sAsthram that these other dhEvathas also exist on bhagavAn's divine form. Do
they reside on his form always like srI mahAlakshmi as explained in the previous slOkam?
They will stay on bhagavAn's divine form for their sustenance. This is one of the greatest
qualities - sauseelyam (magnanimity) of bhagavAn and contemplating this great quality,
AzhwArs praise him often for this act of him. This is explained by AzhwArs in the following
pAsurams:
thiruvAimozhi - 9.3.10
How can I glorify your magnanimity? You are presenting yourselves to brahmA (who is in the
lotus flower and has taken up your naval as his residence), rudhran (who holds an axe and has
The most auspicious one who is filled with good qualities due to him allowing rudhran to stand
next to him in thirukkurungudi.
This principle of bhagavAn giving his form as the residence for other dhEvathas is explained
using an example. bhattar explains to NanjIyar that "During kalahams (floods or disturbance
from invaders), every one (irrespective of their nature) will come and stay inside the
adayavaLaindhAn layer/fort in srIrangam. Once normality returns, every one will return to their
residences outside, but even in their absence, the place where they resided will be identified as
their past residence. Similarly, even though bhagavAn gives his body as the residence for these
dhEvathas at times, even when they are not there, that place is identified as the residence place
of those dhEvathas".
So far, we have seen that AzhwArs presented the core principles of vEdham/vEdhAntham, i.e.,
srIman nArAyaNan is the supreme god and all other dhEvathas are subservient to him.
Through the above pAsurams, we can understand that AzhwArs (all pAsurams happens
to be from nammAzhwAr) have stated that he is also given his body by bhagavAn, he is
also given a place in bhagavAn's sarIram, he also worships srIman nArAyaNan, he is
also not qualified to glorify bhagavAn, etc - i.e., the qualities that were explained for
other dhEvathas are not unique to them and are common for all jIvAthmAs.
But, are AzhwArs the same as dhEvathas? Ofcourse not. AzhwArs are far greater than
other dhEvathas. Let us see how:
dhEvathas (brahmA, rudhran, etc) are given their position based on their
karmam. AzhwArs were personally hand-picked from samsAram by emperumAn
out of his desire to reform many jIvAthmAs.
dhEvathas reside in bhagavAn's form during praLayam for protection. AzhwArs
are glorified as "NIkkamillAvadiyAr" ( ) - those who are
never separated from bhagavAn.
dhEvathas are called servitors of bhagavAn only because they glorify him when
sathva guNam (mode of goodness) arises in them. AzhwArs are fully situated in
sudhdha sathvam (pure goodness) and are constantly engaged in kainkaryam
without any break.
When dhEvathas become affected with rajO/thamO guNam they sometimes ask
"Who is that vishNu?" and at times even fight with bhagavaN like it happened
during bANAsura charithram where rudhran fought against krishna bhagavAn.
If the dhivya prabhandhams were sung by brAhamaNa AzhwArs only, only brAhmaNas
will be able to understand that and attain salvation and the others may not be able to
relate to that and benefit. Also, since prapathi is sarvAdhikAram (any one can perform
prapathi) and dhivya prabandhams fully focus on prapathi, emperumAn facilitated
AzhwArs to be born in different varNams for the upliftment of samsAris who are
immersed in this ocean of samsAram.
Even though dhivya prabhandhams are in thamizh which is not hailed as dhEva
bhAshai as in the case of samskritham, they are great due to the following aspects:
apaurushEyathvam (not created by any one) is one of the unique qualities of vEdham.
When something is created by some one it will be bound by the limitations of the
creator. Even if bhagavAn himself creates some scripture, some one could say it will
have his own personal influence (which is actually good). But since vEdham is not
created by any one (including bhagavAn), it has free from all defects (nirdhOsham).
Here it is established that AzhwArs dhivya prabhandhams are also free from all defects.
Just like samskritha vEdham, dhivya prabhandhams are also nithyam (eternal). Let us
see how:
Thus dhivya prabhandhams also are as valid as vEdham itself with respect to
apuarushEyathvam, nithyathvam and nirdhOshathvam.
Now, Let us see that dhivya prabhandhams are in fact much greater than samskritha
vEdham.
The learned people state that "analysing archAvathAra emperumAn based on the raw
material (metal, wood, stone, etc) and the qualities of a vaishnava based on his birth are
considered as doubting the chastity of ones own mother (which is very cruel)".
இ இ
emperumAn out of his causeless mercy descend into the temples and homes of his
most dear devotees who melt by simply hearing about him. He takes the form that is
desired by his devotees. AzhwArs are most dear to bhagavAn because they were hand
picked by bhagavAn from this samsAram and blessed by him and thus became so
attached to him. Their dhivya prabhandhams are glorified by great intellects like srIman
nAthamunigaL, srI yAmunAchAryar, srI rAmAnujar, etc. Thus having any misconception
in archAvathAra emperumAns based on the raw material that is used to make the divine
vigraham, AzhwArs because of their varNam and their dhivya prabhandhams based on
their language is considered very cruel.)
Thus it is fully established that dhivya prabhandhams are most glories and are the most
valid pramANams for us to accept and follow.
Those srIvaishNavas who have given up any interest in heretical doctrines and
materialistic aspirations, who are so fixed in sAsthram that they do not give up their
AchAram/anushtAnam even when their life is under threat, being subservient to
bhagavAn vishNu instead of their own senses, always contemplating on the true
knowledge about the jIvAthmA, giving up violence fully and being situated in full control
over their senses, being merciful towards all living beings, giving up all attachment
towards lust and wealth, being full realised, being content, having good control over the
prasAdham (food) they consume, not being coward and at the same time not being
angry, not having mamakAram towards wife and children, etc are considered to be jIvan
mukthars as nammAzhwAr said in thiruvAimozhi 5.5.11 "aRiyakkaRRuvallAr
AzhkadalnYAlaththuLLE vaittanNavar" (
) - the one who knows the core principles
of thiruvAimozhi and lives by that are great vaishNavas in this world itself.
Thus ends this beautiful section named dhivya prabhandha prAmANya samarthanam in
6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam.
AchAryan: NammAzhwAr
nAthamunigal along with his father, family and son (Ishvara muni) went on a pilgrimage
to vada Mathurai, VrindhAvanam, govardhana giri, dvArakai, badharikAsramam,
nAthamunigaL returns to kAttu mannAr koil and presents 4000 divya prabhandham in
front of mannanAr. mannanAr is very pleased with nAthamunigaL and asks him to
categorize divya prabhandham and propagate it everywhere. He adds music to
aruLicheyal and teaches the same to his nephews keezhaiagathAzhwAn and
mElaiagathAzhwAn and propagates the same through them.
nAthamunigaL was an expert in divine sangeetham as well. Once when the local king
was unable to distinguish between a normal singer and a divine singer, nAthamunigaL
identifies the divine singer. When the king questions his abilities, nAthamunigaL asks
4000 cymbals to be used to make sounds at once and based on the sound coming from
the cymbals, he identifies the weight of each cymbal – such was his expertise. The king
understands his greatness and gives him a lot of wealth – but nAthamunigaL shows no
interest in those wealth.
Finally, once when the king visits nAthamunigaL after his hunting session, with his wife,
another archer and a monkey, nAthamunigaL, again out of his bhakthi bhAvam, thinks it
was rAman, sIthai, lakshmaNan and hanumAn. He starts running behind them and
when he loses sight of them, he faints immediately. Unable to bear the separation from
emperumAn anymore, he attains paramapadham immediately. Hearing this, Isvara
muni and nAthamunigaL’s sishyas reached that spot and did charama kainkaryamgaL
for him.
Without nAthamunigaL’s effort to retrieve aruLicheyal, we would not have gotten all the
srivaishnavasri we have today. ALavandhAr in his sthOthra rathnam, sings the glories of
nAthamunigaL in the first 3 slOkams.
In the second slOkam, he says “I worship nAthamunigaL’s lotus feet which is my refuge
in both samsAram and paramapadham and who has full knowledge and love for the
lotus feet of the killer of madhu (madhusUdhanan)”.
In the third slOkam, he says “I worship nAthamunigaL who has boundless love for
achyuthan, who is the epitome of real knowledge, who is an ocean of nectar, who has
appeared in this world to rescue others, who is full in bhakthi and who is the leader of all
yOgis”.
Finally in the last slOkam he says to emperumAn, “Please do not accept me for my
great achievements but for my grandfather nAthamunigaL who has natural love towards
your lotus feet and who is fully understood the real knowledge”.
From the above 4 slOkams we can understand the real greatness of nAthamunigaL. Let
us pray at the lotus feet of sriman nAthamunigaL that we also develop the same
attachment towards achyuthan and AzhwAr.
uyyakkondAr – AlwArthirungari
AchAryan: nAthamunigaL
puNdarIkAkshar was born in ThiruveLLarai (svEtha giri) divyadhEsam and was named
after the emperumAn of the divyadhEsam. He is also known as padhmAkshar but
eventually and popularly became to be known as uyyakkondAr.
He was one of the prime sishyas of nAthamunigaL along with kurugai kAvalappan.
When nAthamunigaL got blessed with divine knowledge by nammAzhwAr, he came
back to kAttu mannAr koil and started preaching our samprAdhAyam from there. He
taught ashtAnga yOgam to kurugai kAvalappan – through ashtAnga yOgam, one can do
bhagavadh anubhavam non-stop without having to think about any bodily activities.
When nAthamunigaL asked uyyakkoNdAr if we wanted to learn ashtAnga yOgam as
well – uyyakkondAr said “pinNam kidakka manNam punNaralAmO” (
) – meaning when so many samsAris are suffering in this world
After the time of nAthamunigaL, uyyakkondAr becomes the dharisna pravarthakar (one
who is incharge of protecting/propagating the sampradhAyam) and teaches this divine
knowledge to his sishyas. At the time of leaving to paramapadham, maNakkAl nambi
(his prime sishya) asks him about the successor and uyyakkondAr instructs maNakkAl
nambi himself to take care of the sampradhAyam. He also instructs maNakkAl nambi to
prepare yamunaithuraivar to be the next leader.
uyyakkondAr’s thanian:
: :
AchAryan: nAthamunigaL
maNakkAl nambi instructs ALavandhAr to go and learn yOga rahasyam from kurugai
kAvalappan. ALavandhAr along with his sishyas reach where appan is in yOgam
(meditation) with emperumAn. Wanting to not disturb appan's meditation, without
making any sound, they all hide behind a wall and watch appan from behind his back.
Suddenly, appan turns around and asks if anyone from chottai kulam (srEshta kulam of
nAthamunigaL). AlavandhAr comes out and introduces himself as yamunai thuraivan
the grand son of nAthamunigaL. He asks appan "We were hiding behind the wall on
your back side. How did you come to know about my identity?". appan replies "When I
am with emperumAn in yOgam, even if periya pirAttiyAr comes and invites him, he will
not turn around. But he was constantly pressing my shoulders down and looking over
me towards your direction. From that I understood that there must be some one from
the sottai kulam of nAthamunigaL which is very dear to him". AlavandhAr becomes very
moved with appan's experience with bhagavAn and bhagavAn's attachment towards
nAthamunigaL. He then falls flat at appan's lotus feet and requests him to teach the
yOga rahasyam. appan lifts him up and promises to teach him the same but he says he
will reveal that only towards the end of his own life here in samsAram. Being a great
yOgi, he exactly knew his date of ascending to paramapadham. He revealed that date
and time to ALavandhAr in a note and asked him to come back that particular time to
learn yOga rahasyam. Agreeing to that, ALavandhAr returns to srIrangam and
continues his kainkaryam.
Thus appan meditated on emperumAn and stayed forever at the place where his
AchAryan left samsAram and finally himself reached his AchAryan's divine lotus feet.
Let us pray at the lotus feet of kurugai kAvalappan to develop great attachment towards
emperumAn and AchAryan.
AchAryan: nAthamunigaL
Works: nAchiyAr thirumozhi thaniyan starting with “alli nAL thAmarai mEl“
upAyam
pirAtti – sIthA pirAtti (srI mahAlakshmi) – When pirAtti was captured by rAvaNa
and was held captive, she could have easily punished rAvaNa and escaped from
there as she is fully capable. She demonstrated her capacity by protecting
hanumAn when his tail was set fire by the rAkshasas. She blessed and protected
hanumAn by saying “sIthO bhava” (let this fire have a cooling effect on
hanumAn). But she manifested total dependence on perumAL (srI rAma), gave
up her sakthi (ability) to protect herself and waited for him to come and rescue
her.
dhraupathi – when she was harrassed and humiliated in the assembly of
kauravas, she fully gave up her lajjA (modesty), raised her hands and cried out
for krishNan. She did not hold on to her clothes, but fully and faithfully raised her
hands and surely krishNa protected her.
thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn – he gave up all his actions and fully surrendered to
bhakthavathsalan emperumAn of thirukkaNNamangai dhivya dhEsam, accepting
emperumAn as his total refuge and protector.
He then lived the rest of his life serving thirukkaNNamangai emperumAn and then
gloriously ascended to paramapadham to continue his divine service to
paramapadhanAthan.
ANdAn’s life and glories are identified in a few places in vyAkyAnams and pUrvAchArya
granthams. Let us see them now.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn.
Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get such full faith on emperumAn.
AchAryan: uyyakkondAr
sri rAma misrar was born in maNakkAl. He eventually and popularly became to be
known as maNakkAl nambi.
He lived with his Acharyan uyyakkondAr and served him for 12 years together. During
that time uyyakkondAr’s dharma pathini (wife) attains paramapadham – so maNakkAl
nambi completely takes care of his AchAryan’s thirumALigai and children. Once, when
his AchAryan’s daughters were returning from cauvery, they were stopped by a large
puddle of muddy water and were hesitating to cross the same. At that time, nambi falls
flat on the puddle and let the girls cross over by walking over him. On hearing this,
yamunaithuraivar being very intelligent, goes on to become ALavandhAr, gets half the
kingdom (which we will see in his vaibhavam) and gets entangled in administrative
duties forgetting his position. When maNakkAl nambi tries to meet ALavandhAr, the
security guards does not allow him to do so.
maNakkAl nambi takes up the task of reforming ALavandhAr. To re-engage his sishya,
he starts giving thUthuvaLai keerai (a green leafy vegetable) daily to the palace kitchen
kainkaryaparAs. ALavandhAr starts liking it and suddenly when one day it was stopped,
asks his kainkaryaparas what happened to it. They mention that an elderly srivaishnava
regularly gave that and he stopped now. Finding out that it was maNakkAl nambi, he
invites him to his palace, gives him a special seat and asks him if he needs any wealth.
maNakkAl nambi says, he has the real wealth (srivaishnavasri) generated by
nAthamunigaL and wants to give that to ALavandhAr. Hearing this ALavandhAr orders
his security guards to let him in any time.
maNakkAl nambi starts teaching the meanings of bhagavath gIthai fully to ALavandhAr
which slowly transforms ALavandhAr back to his old self. ALavandhAr, once reformed,
asks what is the essence of gIthai that will allow him to have bhagavath sAkshAthkAram
and nambi explains charama slOka artham in a detailed manner. He then takes
ALavandhAr along with him to thiruvarangam and makes him worship periya perumAL
and ALavandhAr gives up all worldly attachments by being mesmerized by the beauty
of periya perumAL.
yamunaithuraivar was born in kAttu mannAr kOil. He eventually and popularly became
to be known as ALavandhAr. He is also known as periya mudhaliAr, paramAchAryar,
vAdhimathEbha simhEndrar.
While the debate is about to start, rAja mahishi tells the king that she is sure that
yamunaithuraivar will win and if he loses, she will become a servant of the king. And the
king is confident that AkkiAzhwAn will win and he says if yamunaithurairvar, he will give
half the kingdom to him.
AkkiAzhwAn being very confident on his debating skills says that he will refute whatever
statements yamunaithuraivar make. yamunaithuraivar makes 3 statements:
Hearing this AkkiAzhwAn is spell bound. He could not refute any of the above fearing
backlash from the king. But yamunaithuraivar easily refutes all the 3 points as in:
AkkiAzhwAn’s mother is childless because she only has one child (according to
sAmAnya sAstram, a woman with one child is considered to be childless)
The king is not all capable since he is not the ruler of everything – he just rules
this particular kingdom.
In marriages done according to sAstram, the bride is first offered to dhEvas
through specific manthrams before the husband. So she is not chaste in that
sense.
Once maNakkAl nambi instructs ALavandhAr to go and learn ashtAnga yOga rahasyam
from kurugai kAvalappan. When he goes there, kurugai kAvalappan is fully immersed in
bhagavadh anubhavam through yOgam. But he identifies the arrival of ALavandhAr and
tells ALavandhAr that emperumAn is looking over his shoulders during the yOgam to
see ALavandhAr who is coming in the lineage of nAthamunigaL since that lineage is
very dear to emperumAn. He also gives a date (just before he is planning to leave
samsAram to go to paramapadham) to ALavandhAr to learn the yOga rahasyam. But on
that particular date, ALavandhAr happens to visit thiruvananthapuram and only realises
that it was too late to learn the yOga rahasyam.
During this time, one of his sishyas named dheivavAriAndAn, being unable to handle
the separation from his AchArya, travels towards thiruvananthapuram while
ALavandhAr starts travelling towards srirangam. They meet each other at the entrance
of thiruvananthapuram and dheivavAriAndAn is full of joy that he met his AchAryan. He
decides to return with his AchAryan and when ALavandhAr asks him to go and worship
ananthasayana emperumAn, he says that ALavandhAr is more important for him than
emperumAn. Such was his AchArya bhakthi.
ALavandhAr comes back to srirangam and is worried about appointing the successor to
lead the sampradhAyam. He finds out about iLayAzhwAr (Sri rAmAnujar) who is
studying under yAdhavaprakAsan in kAnchipuram. He visits kAnchipuram and in the
dhEvaperumAl kOil, in front of kariyamAnikka perumAl sannidhi, he gives his divine
katAksham towards iLayAzhwAr who passes by at that time. ALavandhAr goes to
dhEva perumAl and does a sharaNagathi to emperumAn to make iLayAzhwAr the next
leader of the sampradhAyam. Thus ALavandhAr plants the seed to what is going to be
a mahA vriskham (great tree) i.e., emperumAnAr dharisanam. ALavandhAr asks
thirukkachi nambi to help iLayAzhwAr in his spiritual development.
ALavandhAr becomes ill and he instructs all his sishyas to depend on thiruvaranga
perumAL arayar. He also gives very important instructions during his charama dhasai
(towards the end of his life here in samsAram). Some of his valuable instructions are:
dhivyadhEsams are our life and we should always spend our time thinking about
them and doing kainkaryams there.
We should worship thiruppANAzhwAr (from his thirvadi to thirumudi) who is at
the lotus feet of periya perumAL. He also says that he always thinks about
thiruppANAzhwAr (who is always worshipped by thiruvarangaperumAL arayar)
Finally he requests all his disciples and other srivaishnavas to assemble in front of him.
He asks for their pardon for any mistakes he committed, accepts sripAdha thIrtham from
them, does thadhiArAdhanam to them and leaves his charama thirumEni to
paramapadham. All his disciples were plunged into sorrow and finally they start
planning for the grand celebration. When srivaishnavas leave their body to go to
paramapadham it is actually celebrated in a grand manner considering the great
benediction they get when they go to paramapadham. All the charama kainkaryams like
thirumanjanam, srichUrNa paripAlanam, alankArams, brahma ratham, etc are all
explained in a detailed manner in ALavandhAr’s charithram and other AchAryas lives
also.
In the mean time, periya nambi had gone to kAnchipuram to bring iLayAzhwAr with him
to srirangam. When iLayAzhwAr goes to sAlai kiNaru for his kainkaryam of bringing
water for dhEvaperumAL, periya nambi recites ALavandhAr’s sthOthra rathnam loudly.
Hearing that and understanding the deep meanings, iLayAzhwAr enquires periya nambi
about the author of the slOkams. periya nambi explaining about ALavandhAr’s
greatness, requests iLayAzhwAr to visit him at srirangam. iLayAzhwAr accepting the
proposal, goes to dhEva perumAL and thirukkachi nambi and takes permission from
them to go to srirangam. While reaching srirangam, they see the procession of
ALavandhAr’s thirumEni and periya nambi falls down crying. iLayAzhwAr also being
very upset enquires from the local srivaishnavas and understand what has happened.
At that time, when the final kainkaryams for ALavandhAr starts, everyone observes that
3 fingers are folded in one of his hands. When iLayAzhwAr asks if anyone knew the
reason, the srivaishnavas mention that ALavandhAr had 3 unfulfilled desires, viz:
Hearing this, iLayAzhwAr immediately takes an oath that he will satisfy all the 3 desires
and immediately ALavandhAr’s fingers unfolded. The assembled srivaishnavas become
ecstatic looking at this and they say that ALavandhAr’s krupai and shakthi is fully
showering on him and hail him to become our dharisan nirvAhakar. Once all the
kainkaryams are over, iLayAzhwAr returns to kAnchipuram without even worshipping
namperumAL since he was overwhelmed by the loss of ALavandhAr.
ALavandhAr’s thanian
thiruvarangapperumAL arayar is the son of ALavandhAr and was one of the prime
sishyas of ALavandhAr.
arayar was expert in music, dance and drama. It was during his arayar sEvai infront of
namperumAL during an adhyayana uthsavam, he was singing “kedumidar” padhigam of
thiruvAimozhi (10.2). In that padhigam, looking at ALavandhAr who is the leader of the
assembly, he sings “nadaminO namargaLuLLIr nAmumakku aRiya chonnOm” meaning
“Oh! my dear devotees, go to thiruvananthapuram now”, ALavandhAr accepts that as
the instruction from namperumAL himself and leaves to thiruvananthapuram to perform
mangaLAsAsanam to anantha sayana perumAL.
From the words of ALavandhAr during his final days, it is clear that arayar had great
attachment towards thiruppANAzhwAr. During his final days, ALavandhAr declares that
everyone should be very attached to thiruvarangapperumAL arayar because of his
utmost devotion towards periya perumAL and thiruppANAzhwAr. Such is arayar’s
greatness, that he is even glorified in public by ALavandhAr himself.
Let us pray at his lotus feet to bless us with the same attachment towards emperumAn
and AchAryan as well.
AchAryan: ALavandhAr
periya nambi was born in srirangam and is also known as mahA pUrNar, parAnkusa
dhAsar and pUrNAchAryar.
He was one of the prime sishyas of ALavandhAr and instrumental in bringing rAmAnujar
to srirangam. After ALavandhAr’s time, all the srivaishnavas in srirangam request periya
nambi to go and bring rAmAnujar to srirangam. So, he leaves srirangam with his family
There are several incidents of periya nambi’s life that are recorded in various
pUrvAchArya srisUkthis. Let us see a few here:
He was full of Athma guNams and had great attachment towards rAmAnujar.
Even when his daughter comes to him and asks him for loukIka help, he asks her
to go to rAmAnujar for solution.
Once when rAmAnujar is walking with all his sishyas, periya nambi prostrates in
front of him. rAmAnujar does not acknowledge it because acknowledging it
means accepting the praNamam of his AchAryan. When periya nambi was asked
why he did that he says that he sees ALavandhAr in rAmAnujar. In vArthA mAlai,
there is a particular statement that “AchAryas should have great respect for their
sishyas” and periya nambi lived by that.
When mAranEri nambi (who is a great srivaishnava, disciple of ALavandhAr and
born in chathurtha varNam) attains paramapadham, periya nambi does charama
kainkarayam for him. Some local srivaishnavas does not accept his act and
complain about that to rAmAnujar. When rAmAnujar asks about that, periya
nambi says that he acted according to AzhwAr’s thiruvuLLam as expressed in
thiruvAimozhi, payilum chudaroLi (3.7) and nedumArkkadimai (8.10) padhigams.
This Idhihyam is shown in azhagiya manavALa perumAL nAyanAr in AchArya
hrudhayam and explained in guru paramparA prabhAvam.
Once, when there was a danger from some miscreants for periya perumAl, it was
decided that periya nambi is the right person to do a pradhakshiNam around the
periya kOil. He requests kUrathzhwAn to accompany him since kUrathAzhwAn is
the one who have fully understood the nature of pArathanthriyam properly. This
is shown in thiruvAimozhi (7.10.5), eedu vyAkyAnam by nampiLLai.
Beyond all of these, when the saiva king invited rAmAnujar to his court,
kUrathAzhwAn went in disguise. Along with AzhwAn, periya nambi also went at
very old age. When the king orders the eyes to be plucked, periya nambi accepts
that and out of his old age and not able to bear the pain, he eventually gives up
his life and reach paramapadham. But at the time of giving up his life, there is a
very important point he shows to us. AzhwAn and athuzhAi (periya nambi’s
daughter) says that srirangam is only a few miles away and requests periya
nambi to hold on to his breath until he reaches srirangam, so that he can leave
his body in srirangam. periya nambi immediately stops and decides to give up his
life then and there. He says if ever some one hears this incident and concludes
Thus we can see how exalted periya nambi was. He was fully dependent on
emperumAn. He is also known as parAnkusa dhAsar because of his attachment
towards nammAzhwAr and thiruvAimozhi. From his thanian we can also understand
that he immersed in kalyANa guNa anubhavam of sriya:pathi and was completely
satisfied in that anubhavam. Let us pray at his lotus feet to bless us with the same
qualities as well.
AchAryan: ALavandhAr
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi is the one who bestows the name "emperumAnAr" to srI
rAmAnujar for his selfless act of sharing the meanings of charama slOkam with
everyone who desired to learn that without any pre-conditions. nambi is constantly
engaged in meditating on emperumAn through the divine meanings of rahasya thrayam
(thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam) as he learnt from ALavandhAr and
does not interact with anyone. In his own town (thirukkOshtiyUr) no one knew his
glories. srI rAmAnujar, knowing the glories of nambi, walked 18 times from srIrangam to
thirukkOshtiyUr to learn the most confidential meaning of charama slOkam. Finally at
the 18th time nambi decides to instruct him the most confidential meaning of charama
slOkam. nambi asks srI rAmAnujar to promise that he wont share this knowledge with
anyone who is not qualified and who does not strive very very hard to know the same.
rAmAnujar accepts that and promises at that time. nambi teaches the most confidential
knowledge of charama slOkam. charama slOkam is gIthAchAryan's "sarva dharmAn
parithyajya" slOkam (gIthai - 18.66). In this slOkam, the most important principle is
revealed through the word "Ekam" - which means only bhagavAn is upAyam. Any thing
else such as karma, jnAna, bhakthi yOgams, our own prapathi (surrender), etc are not
the real upAyam. This most confidential meaning when revealed to unqualified, can be
easily misused in not performing ones own duties. So, the AchAryas until srI rAmAnujar
protected it very carefully. But rAmAnujar, after learning this meaning from
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, immediately gathered the ones who were very eager to learn
this secret meaning and explained the same in detail. nambi hears about rAmAnujar's
revelation and summons him at once. rAmAnujar arrive at nambi's thirumALigai
(residence). nambi enquires about rAmAnujar's act and rAmAnujar accepts that he
disobeyed his orders. When nambi asks why he did that, rAmAnujar says, "I may go to
hell by disobeying your orders but many others (who learnt the meaning of charam
slOkam) will get mOksham and be uplifted". nambi becomes totally overwhelmed by
rAmAnujar's huge heart in providing true spiritual help to others and gives him a special
name - emperumAnAr. emperumAn means my lord (bhagavAn) and emperumAnAr
means one who is more merciful than bhagavAn. Thus, rAmAnujar becomes
emperumAnAr after revealing the esoteric meanings of charama slOkam in
thirukkOshtiyUr. This charithram (incident) is clearly and beautifully explained in
mumukshuppadi vyAkyAna avathArikai (introduction) of maNavALa mAmunigaL for
charama slOka prakaraNam (section). Note: In 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam,
it is explained that srI rAmAnujar learnt the meanings of thirumanthram from
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi and revealed that and because of that nambi named him
"emperumAnAr" and subsequently learnt the meanings of charama slOkam. But since
mAmunigaL clearly explains that it is charama slOkam that was revealed by
nambi's vaibhavam is highlighted in many places in the vyAkyAnam. Let us see some
here now:
Thus, we have seen that thirukkOshtiyUr nambi's glories are many and he was
instrumental in srI rAmAnujar getting the most beautiful name "emperumAnAr" leading
to our sampradhAyam being hailed as emperumAnAr dharisanam by namperumAL
himself as shown by mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai.
Let us bow down at the lotus feet of thirukkOshtiyUr nambi who had great attachment
towards ALavandhAr and emperumAnAr.
AchAryan: ALavandhAr
thirumalai nambi is the maternal uncle of rAmAnujar and the one who bestows the
name “iLayAzhwAr” to him when he was born. He is highlighted as the foremost of
srIvaishNavas hailing from thiruvEnkatam. He was a nithya kainkaryaparar (daily
servitor) to thiruvEnkatamudaiyan (srInivAsar) and was engaged in bringing thIrtham
(holy water) from AkAsa gangai (a water source on thirumalai) everyday.
thirumalai nambi, immediately goes to kALahasthi along with his sishyas and the
srIvaishNava (who subsequently returns to srIrangam and narrates the whole incident to
emperumAnAr) to see gOvindha perumAL. nambi was sitting with his sishyas under the
shade of a tree on the route which gOvindha perumAL travels usually. gOvindha
perumAL arrives at that place dressed as a siva bhaktha with rudhrAkha mAlai and
thiryak puNdrams (ashes) all over his body singing the glories of rudhran. nambi starts
singing the glories of emperumAn and gOvindha perumAL watches that with great
curiosity. After some days, nambi returns to the same place at the same time and writes
ALavandhAr’s sthOthra rathnam 11th slOkam (which establishes srIman nArAyaNan‘s
natural supremacy and other dhEvathas dependency on emperumAn) on a palm leaf
and slips it down. gOvindha perumAL picks it up while arriving, reads it and then drops it
down. On his return, he looks out for the palm leaf and finds it. Contemplating deeply on
the meanings of that slOkam, he approaches nambi and asks if it was belonging to him.
A converstation happens at that time between gOvindha perumAL and thirumalai nambi
where nambi clarifies all the doubts of gOvindha perumAL on srIman nArAyaNan‘s
supremacy. Mostly convinced gOvindha perumAL leaves the place. Subsequently
nambi arrives there at the same place. gOvindha perumAL was plucking flowers for
rudhran this time on a tree. nambi, starts lecturing thiNNan vIdu padhigam
srI rAmAnujar arrives at thiruppathi to learn srI rAmAyaNam from thirumalai nambi. He
stays there for one full year. At the end of the kAlakshEpam, thirumalai nambi asks
emperumAnAr to accept something from him and emperumAnAr asks nambi to send
nambi’s vaibhavam and his explanations are highlighted in many places in the
vyAkyAnam. Let us see some here now:
Let us bow down at the lotus feet of thirumalai nambi who had great attachment towards
ALavandhAr and emperumAnAr.
AchAryan: ALavandhAr
One such time, while explaining thiruvAimozhi 2.3.3 “aRiyAk kAlaththuLLE” pAsuram,
ANdAn explains that AzhwAr is speaking with sorrow that emperumAn blessed him with
blemishless knowledge but still has kept him in this samsAram with this body. But
emperumAnAr looks at it differently (by placing the 2nd line first) and says that since
this padhigam (10 pAsurams) are revelation of AzhwAr’s bliss, the pAsuram really
means that AzhwAr is saying with great joy that “I was suffering in this samsAram since
time immemorial and you have blessed me suddenly”. Hearing this ANdAn becomes
upset and says he has never heard this from ALavandhAr and emperumAnAr is
creating new meanings like vishwAmithra created new lOkam for thrisangu mahArAja.
And he stops his lectures as well. Hearing this, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi comes running
from thirukkOshtiyUr to srIrangam and goes to ANdAn and enquires him about the
incident. ANdAn says that emperumAnAr keeps on giving new meanings which are not
heard from ALavandhAr. When ANdAn explains the particular incident fully, nambi says
that he has heard this meaning from ALavandhAr and is a valid explanation of the
pAsuram. He further says that “just like emperumAn learnt from sAndhIpani, rAmAnujar
is learning thiruvAimozhi from you. He will not say anything other than what is in
ALavandhAr‘s heart. Do not presume that you are teaching some thing rAmAnujar does
not know already”. He then brings ANdAn and periya nambi to emperumAnAr’s mutt
and requests emperumAnAr to continue hearing from ANdAn. Subsequently,
emperumAnAr explains another pAsuram differently than ANdAn and ANdAn asks him
how he knows this particular meaning even without meeting ALavandhAr and
emperumAnAr replies that it is because he is like Ekalvayan for ALavndhAr (Ekalavyan
is the one who learnt everything from dhrONAchArya without directly learning from him).
ANdAn understanding the greatness offers his respects to emperumAnAr and feels
great joy that he is able to hear what he missed hearing from ALavandhAr.
There are many pAsurams that are identified in the vyAkyAnams where ANdAn and
emperumAnAr had interesting/different view points. Let us see a couple.
Let us pray at the lotus feet of thirumAlai ANdAn who had great attachment towards
ALavandhAr and emperumAnAr.
AchAryan: ALavandhAr
thirukkachi nambi also known as kAnchi pUrNar and gajEndhra dhAsar is born in
pUvirundhavalli. He was most popularly known for his thiruvAlavatta (fan) kainkaryam
for dhEva perumAL and his regular conversations with dhEva perumAL and perundhEvi
thAyAr.
When iLayAzhwAr (srI rAmAnujar) returns to kAnchipuram from vAraNAsi yAthrai (after
escaping from the plan to kill him), his mother instructs him to take shelter of thirukkachi
nambi who is a sishya of ALavandhAr and a close confidante of dhEva perumAL.
iLayAzhwAr apporaches nambi and requests for his guidance. nambi instructs
iLayAzhwAr to perform thirumanjana thIrtham bringing kainkaryam from sAlai kiNaru (a
well which is situated few kilometers from the dhEva perumAL temple). iLayAzhwAr
happily obliges and starts performing that kainkaryam every day.
periya nambi visits kAnchipuram to bring iLayAzhwAr to srIrangam to formally have him
initiated in to the sampradhAyam by ALavandhAr and to establish him as the next
AchArya of the sampradhAyam. He approaches thirukkachi nambi and asks for
permission from him and thirukkachi nambi happily agrees. periya nambi then explains
ALavandhAr’s glories to iLayAzhwAr and iLayAzhwAr leaves with periya nambi to
surrender to ALavandhAr. But ALavandhAr ascends to paramapadham before meeting
iLayAzhwAr. So, iLayAzhwAr returns to kAnchipuram and continues his kainkaryam
there.
nambi is well known to be conversing with dhEva perumAL. iLayAzhwAr had some
lingering doubts in his mind and he goes to thirukkachi nambi and requests him to find
the answers for his doubts from dhEva perumAL. (Note: srI rAmAnujar being Adhi
sEsha avathAram and based on pUrvAchArya srIsUkthis, we should understand that he
knows everything, but is enacting these events only to establish the pramANams
through bhagavAn and his elders/AchAryas). On that night, after completing his
kainkaryam, to dhEva perumAL, nambi was looking at emperumAn with great love as
usual.
thirukkachi nambi, goes to iLayAzhwAr and informs him about the 6 commandments.
iLayAzhwAr thanks nambi for his favour and offers his respects to him. nambi asks if
iLayAzhwAr was also thinking the same and iLayAzhwAr agrees – thus nambi becomes
very pleased to emperumAn’s thiruvuLLam (heart) and iLayAzhwAr’s thiruvuLLam being
the same.
mAmunigaL in his dhEvarAja mangaLam brings out the greatness of thirukkachi nambi
and dhEva perumAL’s great affection for him in the 11th slOkam.
Let there be all auspiciousness for the lord of hasthigiri who broke his archA samAdhi
and conversed regularly with thirukkachi nambi out of his great attachment towards him.
mAmunigaL beautifully brings out the relationship between dhEva perumAL and
thirukkachi nambi in this slOkam and also shows us that whenever we approach
bhagavAn we should go through his devotees only.
Let us pray at his lotus feet to bless us with the same attachment towards emperumAn
and AchAryan as well.
AchAryan: ALavandhAr
ALavandhAr (in the middle) with dheivavAri ANdAn and mARanERi nambi – A sculpture
in srI rAmAnujar sannidhi, srI rangam
During his last days mARanEri nambi requests periya nambi (who is his dear friend) to
take care of his final rites and not handover his thirumEni (divine form) to his bodily
relatives since they had not become srIvaishNavas. He compares that his body is like
havis (offering in yagya) that is only fit to be offered to bhagavAn and should not be
touched by others. periya nambi obliges and after mARanEri nambi attains
paramapadham, he performs the charama kainkaryams (final rites) for him. Due to his
varNam, the local srIvaishNavas does not accept periya nambi‘s action and challenges
him. They go to emperumAnAr and complain to him about periya nambi’s act.
emperumAnAr, wanting to establish the glories of mARanEri nambi through periya
nambi’s words, goes to periya nambi and questions him. emperumAnAr asks him
“When I am trying to develop faith and confidence in everyone’s mind on sAsthram, why
are you doing something which looks tangential to sAsthram?”. periya nambi replies that
“We cannot appoint some one else to perform bhAgavatha kainkaryam. We have to do
it ourselves. srI rAman did the final rites for jatAyu. I am not greater than srI rAman and
he is not lower than jatAyu – so there is nothing wrong in me doing this kainkaryam for
him. payilum chudaroLi (thiruvAimozhi 3.7) and nedumARkadimai (thiruvAimozhi 8.10)
padhigams of nammAzhwAr which glorifies bhAgavatha sEshathvam are not just
theoretical. We should atleast try to follow some aspects of AzhwAr’s divine words”.
Hearing this emperumAnAr becomes very pleased, offers his obeisances to periya
nambi and declares that periya nambi has indeed done a noble act. All the local
srIvaishNavas become very pleased. This most beautiful conversation is most
beautifully explained by maNavALa mAmunigaL in the vyAkyAnam of 234th sUthram of
piLLai lOkAchAryar‘s srIvachana bhUshaNam.
nambi’s vaibhavam is highlighted in a few places in the vyAkyAnams. Let us see them
here now:
Let us bow down at the lotus feet of mARanEri nambi who had great attachment
towards ALavandhAr.
Works: He has done nine granthams which are considered as nava rathnams namely
sri bhAshyam, gItha bhAshya, vEdhArtha sangraham, vEdhAntha dhIpam, vEdhAntha
sAram, sharaNAgathi gadhyam, sriranga gadhyam, srivaikunta gadhyam and nithya
grantham.
emperumAnAr – thirumalai
In our AchArya rathna hAram emperumAnAr is considered as the nAyaka maNi (the
center piece). In charamOpAya nirNayam, nAyanAr AchAn piLLai (son of periyavAchAn
piLLai) brings out the full glories of emperumAnAr. Let us see some glimpses of this
magnificient grantham:
manavALa mAmunigaL in upadhEsa rathina mAlai shows that our dharisanam is named
as “emperumAnAr dharisanam” by namperumAl himself. He also says that AchAryas
before emperumAnAr, were anuvruthi prasannAchAryas and were only instructing to
few sishyas who served them with utmost dedication for long durations. But
emperumAnAr changed the trend and showed that in this kaliyugam AchAryas should
be filled with mercy. Looking at the sorrows and difficulties in the samsAram, the
AchAryas should look out for individuals who simply have the desire to leave samsAram
and give them the valuable meanings on the process to leave samsAram. Not only
emperumAnAr himself did that, he also established 74 simhAsanAdhipathis who will
propagate our sanAthana dharmam everywhere and give the mercy to every one.
emperumAnAr’s thanian
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
Sishyas: thiruvarangathamudhanAr
Works: pancha sthavam (athi mAnusha sthavam, srI vaikunta sthavam, sundhara
bhAhu sthavam, varadharAja sthavam, srI sthavam), yO nithyam
achyutha/lakshminAtha thanians
Born in kUram village in a noble family in the year 1010 CE (sowmya varusham,
thai mAsam, hastha nakshathram) as the son of kUrathazhwar and perundhEvi
ammAL. He was named srivathsAngan.
His mother attained AchAryan thiruvadi (passed away) at a very young age and
his father does not remarry even though sAsthrams insist one must be in a
proper Asramam (i.e., once married, if the wife passes away, a man should
remarry). His father says “if i get married and my new wife does not treat
kUrathAzhwAn well, it will be a bhAgavatha apachAram”. Such is his qualities
even at a very young age.
He was guided by thirukkachi nambi who was serving dhEvaperumAL.
He gets married to ANdAL who is equally great in good qualities.
He takes shelter of emperumAnAr and accepts pancha samskAram from him.
AzhwAn and his sons parAsara bhattar and vEdha vyAsa bhattar
He and his wife ges the prasAdham from Sri Ranganathan, and from that
prasAdham two beautiful children are born to them. They are named parAsara
bhattar and vEdha Vyasa bhattar.
He is so immersed in arulicheyal anubhavam (4000 divya prabhandham) that
whenever he starts saying an upanyasam either he keeps crying after being
overwhelmed by anubhavam or he faints.
periya perumAL converses with him directly.
Finally, he requests mOksham from periya perumAL and periya perumAL grants
it. When emperumAnAr asks “how can you leave before me?”, he says
“According to sUzh visumbaNi mugil… padhigam in ThiruvAimozhi, when one
goes to paramapadam, nityas and muktas come and wash the feet of the newly
arriving mukta atma. How can I allow you to come and do that for me? That is
why I am leaving before you.”.
AzhwAn’s thanian
:
:
How can we speak the greatness of kUrathAzhwAn within the boundary of words
(mozhiai kadakkum perumpugalAn/vAcha magOchara)? Everyone gets mOksham
through emperumAnAr – some (who are elders to emperumAnAr) through his
thirumudi sambhandham and others (who are younger to emperumAnAr) gets
through his thiruvadi sambhandam. Such great personality emperumAnAr
himself proclaims that it was due to his connection to kUrathAzhwAn he gets
mOksham.
Sri Parthasarathy, who is gIthAchAryan – one who spoke srI bhagavath gIthA to
arjunan. Sri bhagavath githA is considered as the most important scripture for Sanatana
Dharma and especially Srivaishnavas as this is directly spoken by krishNa himself.
In the 13th AdhyAyam (Chapter) of Sri bhagavath githA, krishNa explains the difference
between Kshetra (body) and Kshetranja (Knower of the body – soul). As part of his
instructions, he explains the 20 important qualities of a God realized person. These
qualities are wonderfully visible in kUrathAzhwAn’s life and we will walk through each of
the qualities explained by kaNNan emperumAn with specific examples from
kUrathazwan’s life.
amAnithvam adambhithvam
ahimsA shAnthir Arjavam
AcharyOpAsanam saucham
sthairyam Athma-vinigraha:
ashakthir anabhisvangah
puthra dhAra grhAdisu
nithyam cha sAma chiththathvam
ishtAnishtopapaththisu
1. amanitvam – humility
Even though he was born in a noble and wealthy family, he gave up everything
when he decided to go to srIrangam to server emperumAnAr.
In srIrangam, there was a time, when emperumAnAr was asking Sri Periya
Nambi to drop holy sand by circling around the temple to protect it from evils, Sri
Periya Nambi asks for some one to accompany him – but insists that person
should be very humble – one who will not think even for a moment that why
should I walk behind another person. While emperumAnAr is thinking and looking
around, Sri Periya Nambi himself says, “Please send KUrathanzhwan since there
can be no one more humble than him”.
2. adambhitvam – pridelessness
Once he hears the sound of a frog crying out while being eaten by a snake. He
starts crying for the poor frog and faints immediately. This shows his love for all
living beings. He is considered as an incarnation of Sri Rama, who as stated in
Valmiki Ramayanam, when some thing bad happens in Ayodhya before the
affected person Sri Rama cries and when some thing good happens he feels
happy before the affected person.
4. ksantir – tolerance
5. arjavam – honesty
When emperumAnAr places his feet on a deaf and dumb person who is living in
Sri Rangam, kUrathAzhwAn starts crying and says there is no use of learning
vedanthams compared to getting the lotus feet of emperumAnAr. “thruNi krutha
virinchAdhi nirangusa vibUthaya: rAmAnuja padhAmbOja samAsrayaNa sAlina:”
indicates the same meaning.
While it is obvious that such great personality will be externally clean, the next
examples show how clean his heart was.
8. sthairyam–steadfastness
When some devotees was asking “why srivaishnavas are not worshipping
dhEvatantarams?”, kUrathAzhwAn said because our elders (pUrvacharyas –
great vedic scholars) did not do that, we are also not doing it. He had such
steady mind and faith on pUrvacharyas.
When his children were getting ready to be married, his wife and many others
were asking him to look for suitable brides. kUrathAzhwAn said “Iswara
kudumbathukku nAm yAr karaivathu?” – meaning “Why should I worry for
Bhagavan’s family? It is srI ranganAtha’s responsibility.”.
When emperumAnAr instructs kUrathAzhwAn to sing kAnchipuram
dhEvaperumAL and request for his eyes back – kUrathAzhwAn asks for
Moksham for him and NAlurAn who caused the loss of eyes.
Even after being a great scholar, wealthy person, etc., when emperumAnAr gets
upset with kUrathAzhwAn while writing the Sri Bhashya, kUrathAzhwAn says,
“emperumAnAr is my Swamy and I am his Dasan, so he can do whatever he
wants to me”.
Once when he hears some one gives birth to a child, kUrathAzhwAn goes in front
of Lord Ranganatha and cries. When asked why, he says “When some one gets
put in this jail of samsara, you have to go and cry in front of the one who can
relieve them from this samsara. Since Lord Ranganatha is the only one who can
liberate us all from samsara, I went and cried in front of him for this new born
child”.
Not only he gave up all his wealth, he also started taking unja vruthi (bikshai) for
his daily needs after reaching srIrangam. Even after having a family, he was very
strict in adhering to sastras.
When he was instructing to his disciples on rahasya trayam (Thirumantram,
dvayam, charama slokam), he first asks his children to leave – but later invites
them and teaches them the inner meanings. When asked why, he says, “well
who knows how long they could live, they could lose their life before reaching
home, that is why I wanted to make sure they learn this”. This shows, he is not
sentimental towards his children, but see them also as atmas who need to attain
proper knowledge and get liberated from samsara
It is also said that he did not keep any bodily relationship with his wife and his
children (both Parasara bhattar and vedavyasa bhattar) were given by Lord Sri
Ranganatha itself through his prasAdham.
When he lost his eyes kUrathAzhwAn did not worry too much. He said “what is
the use of these eyes anymore after seeing the king who is a bhagavad virodhi”.
When emperumAnAr instructs him to request his eyes back from Sri Kachi
Even in many adverse conditions, such as having to lose his eyes, or having to
leave srIrangam, etc., kUrathAzhwAn always prayed for constant devotion to
emperumAn. He never went to any one else, nor he asked anything other than
complete devotion to the Lord.
For a Srivaishnava, living in a solitary place means living in holy places where
there is activities around Lord only nothing else. kUrathAzhwAn always stayed
with his Acharya emperumAnAr and was always thinking about service to
emperumAnAr and emperumAn.
Even though great devotees may have to associate with general people, they will
still show no attachment towards them. kUrathAzhwAn even though had to
associate with ordinary people (kings, etc) who takes instructions from him, but
never showed any attachment towards them.
Right from the young age, kUrathAzhwAn always shows interest in self
knowledge and shows clear understanding of all jivatmas are servants of
paramatma.
kUrathAzhwAn always was thinking about the true knowldge – that all jivatmas
are servants of Sriman Narayana. That is why when he left his body to go to
paramapadham, emperumAnAr instructs the Srivaishnavas to keep reciting
Dvaya maha mantram in kUrathAzhwAn’s ears since that is what he is always
thinking about.
Conclusion
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
ANdAn’s instructions and glories are identified in various places in the vyAkyAnam. Let
us see some of them now.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of mudhaliyANdAn. He was fully
situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray
at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
mudhaliyANdAn’s thaniyan:
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
Born in vinjimUr (Andhra pradhEsh), he was originally known as yagya mUrthy and was
an adhvaithi. He once goes for gangA snAnam and wins many vidhwAns there and
becomes a mAyAvAdha sanyAsi. Due to his vast knowledge in sAsthram he had
acquired great fame and many disciples. Hearing about emperumAnAr‘s glories, yagya
mUrthy desires to debate with him. He prepares many granthams and have them
carried by his many disciples and arrives at srIrangam to meet emperumAnAr.
emperumAnAr welcomes yagya mUrthy and they make an arrangement to debate for
18 days. yagya mUrthy declares that if he is defeated he will change his name to reflect
emperumAnAr’s name, carry the pAdhukais of emperumAnAr on his head and become
a sishya of emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr declares that if he is defeated he will give up
touching any granthams.
The debate starts and goes on for 16 days. Both of them debate eloquently and
furiously like two elephants fighting each other. On the 17th day, it appears that yagya
mUrthy is gaining an upper hand. emperumAnAr becomes a bit worried and leaves to
his mutt at the end. In the night, he meditates on pEraruLALan (his personal
thiruvArAdhana perumAL) and asks emperumAn if he will end up losing the debate
which will lead to the downfall of the great sampradhAyam which was nourished by
NammAzhwAr to ALavandhAr. He also worries that he becomes the reason for such
downfall. pEraruLALan appears in emperumAnAr's dream subsequently and tells him
not to worry. He tells him that this was a divine leelai to bring a sishya to emperumAnAr
who is adequately intelligent and brilliant. He instructs emperumAnAr to use
ALavandhAr's refutations for mAyAvAdham and defeat yagya mUrthy in the debate.
emperumAnAr realises the greatness of emperumAn and continues to recite
emperumAn's thinAmams until early morning, performs his nithyAnushtAnams and
thiruvArAdhanam and arrives for the debate for the last (18th) day majestically. yagya
mUrthy, being an intellectual, right away recognises the thEjas in emperumAnAr, falls at
his lotus feet, keeps emperumAnAr's pAdhukas on his head and accepts his defeat.
When emperumAnAr asks if he wants to debate further, yagya mUrthy says
"emperumAnAr is non-different from periya perumAL for him, so no need to debate
further". But emperumAnAr out of his krupai, still explains emperumAn's saguNathvam
using proper pramANams. yagya mUrthy requests emperumAnAr to give him proper
sanyAsAshramam. emperumAnAr instructs him to first perform prAyachitham for giving
up the shikai and yagyOpavItham (since he was a mAyavAdha sanyAsi before) and he
obliges. After that, emperumAnAr presents thridhaNdam, kAshAyam, etc to yagya
mUrthy and names him aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr in memory of the favours
done by pEraruLALan and to fulfill the desire of yagya mUrthy who wanted to be named
after emperumAnAr. emperuAnAr also brings aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr to
Once when two travelling srivaishnavas ask some one in the streets of srIrangam
“where is emperumAnAr‘s mutt?”. At that time, a local person replies “which
emperumAnAr?”. The srivaishnavas ask “Are there two emperumAnAr’s in our
sampradhAyam?” and the local person replies “Yes, there is emperumAnAr and
aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr”. The srivaishnavas finally say “Oh! we are looking for
udayavar’s mutt” and the person points them to the mutt. aruLALa perumAL
emperumAnAr happens to be there at that time and becomes very upset that since he
was living in a separate mutt with the same name this conversation happened.
Immediately he destroys his mutt, comes to emperumAnAr and tells him that he does
not want to live in a separate place anymore explaining the conversation which
happened. emperumAnAr accepts him, asks him to live in his own mutt and also
explains all rahasya arthams to aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr.
bhattar, when he was very young, asked AzhwAn the meaning for “sirumAmanisar”
(thiruvAimozhi 8.10.3) saying that it looks contradictory. For that, AzhwAn explains that
this means srivaishnavas like mudhaliANdAn, embAr and aruLALa perumAL
emperumAnAr who are small in physical stature but are as great as nithya sUris. This
charithram is identified by NampiLLai in his eedu mahA vyAkyAnam.
embAr – madhuramangalam
After saving emperumAnAr, gOvindha perumAL continues his yAthrai and becomes a
siva bhakthar and settles down in kALahasthi. emperumAnAr sends periya thirumalai
nambi to reform him. When gOvindha perumAL comes to the nandhavanam to pluck
flowers for his pUjA, periya thirumalai nambi recites thiruvAimozhi pAsuram “dhEvan
emperumAnukkallAl pUvum pUsanaiyum thagumE”, i.e., only emperumAn sriman
nArAyaNan deserves to be worshipped with flowers and no one else qualifies for that.
govindha perumAL at once realises his mistake and gives up the attachment towards
the sivan and surrenders to periya thirumalai nambi. periya thirumalai nambi performs
pancha samskAram to him and teaches him sampradhAya arthams. Thereafter,
gOvindha perumAL stays with periya thirumalai nambi doing all kainkaryams to his
AchAryan.
emperumAnAr visits periya thirumalai nambi at thirupathi and learns sri rAmAyaNam
from him. A few incidents happen at that time which will make us understand the
greatness of embAr. Let us see them briefly:
Once, gOvindha perumAL prepares the bed for periya thirumalai nambi and lies
down it first before his AchAryan lies down. When emperumAnAr sees this, he
lets periya thirumalai nambi know about this and nambi enquires from gOvindha
perumAL about the incident. gOvindha perumAL says he will get narakam for this
act but he does not mind that. He says that he was testing to ensure that the bed
will be very comfortable for his AchAryan. So he did not worry about his fate but
was more concerned about his AchAryan’s thirumEni. This relates to
mAmunigaL’s srisUkthi – thEsArum sichchan avan sIr vadivai Asaiyudan
NOkkumavan (
).
Once emperumAnAr notices that gOvindha perumAL does something in a
snake’s mouth and takes a bath for sarIra sudhi. emperumAnAr enquires why
and gOvindha perumAL says that the snake had a thorn in its mouth and he
removed it. emperumAnAr was overwhelmed with gOvindha perumAL’s jIva
kArunyam.
When emperumAnAr takes leave from periya thirumalai nambi, nambi says he
wants to offer something to emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr requests nambi to
send gOvindha perumAL with him. nambi happily agrees and instructs gOvindha
perumAL to treat emperumAnAr as himself. But by the time they reach
Once when embAr was praised by other srivaishnavas embAr happily agrees to those
praises. emperumAnAr takes a note of that and mentions to embAr that it is not a
srivaishnava’s quality to accept praises without naichiyAnusandhAnam (humility). For
that embAr says if some one praises him, it only glorifies emperumAnAr himself since it
was emperumAnAr who reformed him from a very lowly state. emperumAnAr
acknowledges that and praises embAr for his AchArya bhakthi.
When AndAL (wife of kUrathAzhwAn) gives birth to two children by the grace of
emperumAn through his prasAdham, emperumAnAr along with embAr visits them for
the nAmakaraNam ceremony. emperumAnAr instructs embAr to bring the children and
while doing so embAr recites dhvaya mahA manthram to the children as a rakshai for
them. emperumAnAr looking at the children, was able to recognise that they had
dhvaya mahA manthrOpadhEsam by embAr immediately and order embAr to be their
AchAryan. Thus parAsara bhattar and vEdha vyAsa bhattar become the sishyas of
embAr.
While embAr was always completely detached to lOka vishayam (material things), he
was very much attached to bhagavath vishayam. He was also a great rasikar (one who
appreciates/enjoys) bhagavath vishayam. There are several incidents that are
highlighted in the vyAkyAnams about embAr’s bhagavath anubhavams. Let us see a
few here.
embAr during his charama dhasai, instructs parAsara bhattar to administer our
sampradhAyam from srirangam. He also says to bhattar that, bhattar should always
think that “emperumAnAr thirvadigaLE thanjam”. Deeply meditating on emperumAnAr,
embAr gives up his charama thirumEni and reaches paramapadham to be with
emperumAnAr in nithya vibhUthi.
Let us pray at the lotus feet of embAr that we also develop such attachment towards
emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.
embAr’s thanian
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
When udayavar ascended to paramapadham, many followed (gave up their lives also).
kaNiyanUr siriyAchAn left udayavar to live in kaNiyanUr for some time and some time
later he started his journey towards kOil (srIrangam) to worship his AchAryan
(udayavar) with much love. On the way, he meets a srivaishnava and he asks “Is our
AchAryan emperumAnAr living healthy?” and that srivaishnava explains about
udayavar’s ascending to paramapadham. Hearing this, immediately, kaNiyanUr
siriyAchAn said “emperumAnAr thiruvadigaLE charanNam” (
) and ascended to paramapadham. komANdUr iLayavilli
AchAn was living in thiruppErUr. One night, in his dream, he sees udayavar seated on a
brightly glowing divine chariot and in the sky. He sees, paramapadhanAthan with
thousands of nithya sUris, AzhwAr, nAthamunigaL and other AchAryas, with many
persons playing divine musical instruments to receive emperumAnAr and bring him over
to paramapadham. He sees that, after the reception, emperumAr’s chariot is leading the
journey towards paramapadham with everyone else following him. He then wakes up
and realizes what has happened. He immediately informs his neighbour “vaLLal
maNivaNNan” that “Our AchAryan emperumAnAr has climbed a divine chariot and
ascended to parampadham accompanied by paramapadhanAthan and nithyasUris. I
cannot live here anymore. emperumAnAr thiruvadigaLE charaNam” and gave up his life
and immediately ascended to paramapadham. There were many such sishyas who
gave up their lives immediately after hearing about emperumAnAr’s journey to
paramapadham. Those who stayed with emperumAnAr were strictly ordered by
emperumAnAr to not give up their lives and since emperumAn desired for those
srivaishnavas to continue their lives to serve for the sampradhAyam they unwillingly
continued their lives. Thus emperumAnAr’s greatness is such that in his separation, his
sishyas would also give up their lives.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of komANdUr iLayavilli AchAn.
He was fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr
himself. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
He was appointed as the chief cook for emperumAnAr by thirukkOshtiyUr nambi. This
incident is beautifully explained in 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam and a few
other pUrvAchArya granthams.
In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams that show the glories of kidAmbi AchAn are seen.
Let us see some of them now.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of kidAmbi AchAn. He was fully
situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray
at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
vaduga nambi was fully situated in the AchArya nishtai. He acquires a pair of sandals
wore by emperumAnAr and was performing thiruvArAdhanam to those sandals every
day.
Once vaduga nambi was boiling milk for emperumAnAr. At that time, namperumAL
arrived outside emperumAnAr's mutt in procession. emperumAnAr calls out for vaduga
nambi and vaduga nambi replies "If I come out to worship your perumAL, my perumAL;s
milk will get burnt. So I wont come".
In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams that show the glories of vaduga nambi are seen.
Let us see some of them now.
mAmunigaL explains that vaduga nambi was like madhurakavi AzhwAr who had
nammAzhwAr as everything. kUrathAzhwAn and mudhaliyANdAn were fully
surrendered to emperumAnAr - still they were at times seen glorifying emperumAn and
requesting emperumAn to give mOksham when they were unable to bear the cruel
nature of samsAram. Thus vaduga nambi said that "Even though they are related to
emperumAnAr, they are holding on to both emperumAn and emperumAnAr".
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of vaduga nambi. He was fully
situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray
at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
avathAra sthalam: not known (potentially vangi puram which is his father’s native place
or srIrangam where his father vangi purathu Achi might have lived after becoming
maNakkAl nambi‘s sishya)
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
sishyas: siriyAthAn
vangi purathu Achi is a sishya of maNakkAl nambi. vangi purathu nambi is the son of
vangi purathu Achi and he goes on to become a sishya of emperumAnAr.
vangi purathu nambi’s son is named vangi purathu Achi and he is also highlighted in
some idhihyams.
In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams that show the glories of vangi purathu nambi are
seen. Let us see some of them now.
In vArthAmAlai, a few idhihyams that show the glories of vangi purathu nambi (and his
son) are seen. Let us see them now.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of vangi purathu nambi. He was
fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
Born in a family which was engaged in performing sOma yAgam, he was named srI
rAma misrar. He is one of the 74 simhAsAnAdhipathis (AchAryas) appointed by
emperumAnAr himself. He is also known as sOmayAjiyAr. He was the first to write a
commentary for srI bhAshyam. His family continues to have the kainkaryam of
compiling vAkya panchAngam in srIrangam periyakOil. His srIsUkthis are referred by
sruthprakAsikA bhattar, nAyanArAchAn piLLai and vEdhAnthAchAryar in their
granthams.
The AchAryan out of his utmost mercy who protects and delivers the sishya who is
surrendered to him – that AchAryan is the most important one. This is identified by
trustworthy persons.
In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams that show the glories of sOmAsiyANdAn are seen.
Let us see some of them now.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of sOmAsiyANdAn. He was fully
situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray
at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
sOmAsiyANdAn’s thaniyan:
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
Once when srI rAmAnuja was walking along with his sishyas, he noticed dhAsar walking
in front of ponnAchi holding up an umbrella in his one hand protecting her from the sun
emperumAnAr asks them to go to dhAsar’s house and steal whatever jewels possible
from there. They go to dhAsar’s house where ponnAchiyAr was lying down. They quietly
go near her and try to remove the jewels from her. ponnAchiyAr realising that these
srIvaishnavas are trying to steal and thinking that they may be doing it due to their
poverty, she allows them to remove the jewels easily. Once they are done with one
side, she pretends to naturally turn around to allow them to remove the jewels from the
other side of her. But they become alert and afraid and run away from the place and
return to emperumAnAr. After hearing the incidents, emperumAnAr asks them to go
back to dhAsar’s house and ask them to observe what happens. When they return, they
see that dhAsar is back and he is talking to ponnAchiyAr. He is asking her why the
jewels from one side are missing. She replies to him saying that some srivasihnavas
came to steal them and she allowed them to take the jewels from one side and once
they were done with that side, she turned around to facilitate them. At that time, dhAsar
becomes very upset and tells ponnAchiyAr that she should have stayed like a stone to
let them take the jewels in whichever way and by turning around she scared them. They
Many idhihyams related to dhAsar and his wife are explained in our pUrvAchArya
works. Let us see some of them now.
There are many incidents which highlight the attachment of dhAsar towards kaNNan
emperumAn.
After some time, dhAsar during his final days invites all srIvaishNavas to his
thirumALigaai, performs thadhIyArAdhanam, accepts their srIpAdha thIrtham, tells
ponnAchiyAr that he is leaving to paramapadham and she should continue to live.
Keeping emperumAnAr‘s pAdhukas on his head, he gives up his charama thirumEni.
srIvaishNavas arrange for his final journey, bring the holy water from cauvery river,
performs srIchUrNa paripAlanam (applying puNdrams), etc., to him. ponnAchiyAr
understanding the great benediction that is awaiting dhAsar in paramapadham, happily
decorates the place and takes care of the srIvaishNavas during the whole time. Finally,
after dhAsar’s thirumEni is carried on a palanquin and reaches the end of the street, she
starts crying loudly unable to bear the separation from dhAsar and at once gives up her
life as well. All srIvaishNavas become astonished at her and at once arrange for her to
be placed along with dhAsar as well. This shows the extreme level of attachment
towards bhAgavathas where they cannot bear the separation of bhAgavathas even for a
small moment.
maNavALa mAmunigaL while compiling the iyal sARRumurai (recited at the end of
iyaRpA during uthsavam times) based on various AchAryas pAsurams. The first
pAsuram was written by piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar and has the essence of our
sampradhAyam.
We declare that have no worries and have the real wealth (of kainkaryam) because we
are surrendered to the srIvaishNavas who are surrendered to srI rAmAnuja who himself
is surrendered to kaNNan emperumAn the one who lifted the gOvardhana hill to protect
his dear devotees (gOpas and gOpis).
In this simple pAsuram, dhAsar has showed the following most important principles:
Time and again, our pUrvAchAryas have shown that a srIvaishNava’s greatness is not
because of his birth in a particular varNam, but only because of his devotion towards
emperumAn and other srIvaishNavas. piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar’s life and our
AchAryas’ glorification of dhAsar is a clear indication of the mood and attitude of our
AchAryas on this particular principle.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar
and ponnAchiyAr. Both of them were fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and were very
dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at their lotus feet that we too get a little bit of
such bhAgavatha nishtai.
AchAryan: emperumAnAr
piLLAn is the illustrious son of periya thirumalai nambi and is also known as kurugEsar,
kurugAthinAthar. emperumAnAr himself gave this name to him and instructed him to
write the first vyAkyAnam for thiruvAimozhi which becomes to be popularly known as
6000 padi.
emperumAnAr considers piLLAn as his mAnasa puthrar (abhimAna puthrar – dear son).
Once many sishyas of emperumAnAr go to piLLAn and request piLLAN to request
emperumAnAr to write a vyAkyAnam for thiruvAimozhi. piLLAn goes to the assembly of
emperumAnAr, offers his obeisances and starts speaking. He says to emperumAnAr
“You have written srIbhAshyam and travelled everywhere and established the
visishtAdhvaitha sidhAntham. Now, we request you to write commentaries to AzhwArs’
pAsurams and protect them as well (so others dont misinterpret the same)”. Hearing
this emperumAnAr replies “Yes, that is required. But if I write a commentary to AzhwArs’
pAsurams, people with limited intelligence will consider that there is only so much in
AzhwArs works. And no one else will dare to write a commentary beyond mine. That will
be an offense towards the great works of AzhwArs which are filled with great meanings
which can be revealed by many authentic AchAryas in the future. So, I will instruct you
to write the first commentary for thruvAimozhi which is equivalent in size to vishNu
purANam (6000 slOkams – 6000 padi)”. Thus with the permission of emperumAnAr,
piLLAn wrote 6000 padi vyAkyAnam and subsequently, this was taught by bhattar to
nanjIyar.
piLLAn was an expert in both srI bhAshyam and bhagavath vishayam. Once when
piLLAn was at siruppuththUr, sOmAsiyANdAn learns srIbhAshyam thrice from him.
sOmAsiyANdA n asks piLLAn to give him some valuable instructions and piLLAn says
“You are an expert in explaining other philosophies and establish our philosophy
through srIbhAshyam. Instead of being proud about that, always think that the lotus feet
of emperumAnAr is our only refuge all the time”.
In our vyAkyAnams, quite a few idhihyams that show the glories of thirukkurugaippirAn
piLLAn are seen. Let us see some of them now.
sUthram 122 – limitations of bhakthi yOgam – In a golden pot which is filled with
pure water, if there is a little bit of alcohol (or any intoxicating food) mixed, that
water becomes un-drinkable. Similarly, jIvAthmA (golden pot) when filled with
bhakthi (pure water) is mixed with a tinge of ahankAram (poison) that leads to
svarUpa virOdham. While it is desired that there is no ahankAram in bhakthi, it is
impossible to expect that since by definition bhakthi yOgam means there is a
performer of that process and that performer has the attitude that he is doing
something to please bhagavAn. So, piLLAn says that bhakthi yOgam is not
natural for the jIvAthmA and only prapathi (total surrender – accepting that
emperumAn is the only upAyam) is the natural process for jIvAthmA to achieve
emperumAn.
sUthram 177 – glories of paragatha svIkAram – i.e., emperumAn blesses
jIvAthmAs out of his own causeless mercy and it emperumAn’s own efforts which
brings us the ultimate benediction (kainkarya prApthi). Any self effort from the
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn.
He was fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr
himself. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.
sishyas: chEmam jIyar, thirukkurugaip pirAn jIyar, sundhara pANdiya dhEvan, etc.
Born as the son of siRiya gOvindha perumAL (who is the brother of embAr) on
mArgazhi kEttai in srIrangam, he becomes to be known (after accepting sannyAsam) as
kUra nArAyaNa jIyar, nalam thigazh nArAyaNa jIyar, nArAyaNa muni, periya jIyar and
srI ranga nArAyaNa jIyar.
Before becoming a sannyAsi he had a son named “eduththa kai azhagiya nAyanAr”. He
was a sishya of kUrathAzhwAn first and subsequently he becomes a sishya of
AzhwAn‘s son bhattar and learns from him too.
vEdhAnthAchAryar who appears much later to kUra nArAyaNa jIyar refers to him as
periya jIyar in his works (Note: It appears that there is another kUra nArAyaNa jIyar who
appears some time after vEdhAnthAchAryar‘s time). vEdhAnthAchAryar quotes jIyar’s
sthOthra vyAkyAnam in his own sthOthra vyAkyAnam. He also quotes jIyar’s srI sUktha
bhAshyam and nithya grantham in his rahasya thraya sAram. As kUra nArAyaNa jIyar
was a sishya of kUrathAzhwAn and thus should have been elder to nanjIyar – so to
distinguish between nanjIyar and kUra nArAyaNa jIyar – vEdhAnthAchAryar should
have identified him as periya (big) jIyar.
Once thiruvarangapperumAL arayar was suffering from a disease and that was
affecting his kainkaryam to periya perumAL. At that time, kUra nArAyaNa jIyar
compiles and sings sudharsana sathakam and relieves arayar from his disease.
This is highlighted in the thanian of sudharsana sathakam clearly.
thiruvarangapperumAL arayar
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of kUra nArAyaNa jIyar. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get bhagavath/bhAgavatha/AchArya kainkaryam.
I worship srI nArAyaNa muni who is a sishya of parAsara bhattar, who protects
srIrangam and who is an ocean of gyAnam (knowledge), bhakthi (devotion), vairAgyam
(renunciation), etc.
sishyas: nadAthUrammAL
nadAthUr ammAL (vAthsya varadhAchAryar) is one of his prime sishyas and is the
grandson of nadAthUr AzhwAn (who is also a sishya of emperumAnAr). When ammAL
wanted to learn srIbhAshyam from his grandfather, his grandfather due to his old age,
asks ammAL to go to engaLAzhwAn and learn the same. ammAL goes to
engaLAzhwAn’s thirumALigai (home) and knocks on the door. engaLAzhwAn asks
“Who is that?” and ammAL replies “I am varadhan”. engaLAzhwAn says “Come back
after the ‘I’ dies”. ammAL returns to his home and enquires from his grandfather about
the incident. nadhAthUr AzhwAn says we must always introduce ourselves as “adiyEn”
(dhAsan) with total humility and never use the terms “I”, “I am”, etc., which are the
cause of ahankAram (ego). Understanding the principle, ammAL returns to
engaLAzhwAn and knocks at the door. This time when engaLAzhwAn asks who is at
the door, ammAL replies “adiyEn varadhan is here”. Being pleased, engaLAzhwAn
welcomes ammAL, accepts him as his sishya and teaches him all the valuable
principles. engaLAzhwAn also becomes to be known as ammAL AchAryan, since he
became the AchAryan of nadAthUr ammAL who becomes to be a great scholar.
In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams (incidents) that show the glories of engaLAzhwAn
are seen. Let us see some of them now.
In vArthA mAlai, a few incidents involving engaLAzhwAn are identified. Let us see them
now:
17 – When ammangi ammAL goes to engaLAzhwAn and asks him to bless him
with a clear explanation of our sampradhAyam, engaLAzhwAn explains sArartha
chathushtayam (4 basic principles and 4 essential principles). They are:
o svarUpa gyAnam (knowledge about true nature of self) – Understanding
that the self is subservient to bhagavAn and should be at disposal of
bhagavAn
o svarUpa yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced knowledge about true nature of
self) – Undertanding that the self is subservient to bhagavathas (devotees)
and should be at disposal of bhagavathas
o virOdhi gyAnam (knowledge about the hurdles) – When in separation from
bhAgavathas, carrying on our normal activities (i.e., separation from
bhAgavathas should be unbearable)
o virOdhi yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced knowledge about the hurdles) –
After getting the association of a bhAgavatha, finding faults in him (i.e., we
should never find faults in bhAgavathas)
o pala gyAnam (knowledge about the goal) – To carry out all instructions of
bhAgavathas without any hesitation.
o pala yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced knowledge about the goal) – To
serve bhAgavathas in this world even at the cost of giving up
paramapadham
o upAya gyAnam (knowledge about the process) – Clearly understanding
the sambhandham between bhagavAn and jIvAthmA and acting according
to that (there is very detailed explanation for this)
o upAya yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced knowledge about the process) –
Understanding that emperumAn being the sarIrI (AthmA) of the self
(sarIram), emperumAn is doing everything for his own pleasure and giving
up all attachments towards any other process than emperumAn himself
118 – engaLAzhwAn was explaining charama slOkam to nadAthUrammAL.
When explaining “sarva dharmAn parithyajya” – nadAthUr ammAL wonders why
is emperumAn talking with so much svAthanthriyam in disregarding all
dharmams (upAyams) that are explained in sAsthram. engaLAzhwAn replies that
it is the true nature of bhagavAn – he is fully independent – so it is fitting for him
to say that. Moreover, he says, emperumAn is relieving the jIvAthmA from
indulging in other upAyams which are against the true nature of jIvAthmA – since
engaLAzhwAn’s thaniyan:
:
:
:
ananthAzhwAn who is also known as ananthAchAryar, anantha sUri, etc., (along with
echAn, thondanUr nambi and marudhUr nambi) approaches emperumAnAr after
hearing about his glories. He reveals his great desire to take shelter of emperumAnAr’s
lotus feet. emperumAnAr, having just reformed yagya mUrthy at that time and
established him as aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr, instructs ananthAzhwAn to
become a sishya of aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr. They all happily oblige and follow
that instruction with great joy. aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr declares that though
they are his sishyas they should fully depend on emperumAnAr’s lotus feet only.
emperumAnAr’s lotus feet in thirumalai is named as anathAzhwAn. ananthAzhwAn is
similar to madhurakavi AzhwAr in the following ways:
Once, when ananthAzhwAn and his pregnant wife was working on making a pond for
the garden, emperumAn himself appears as a small boy and tries to help him.
ananthAzhwAn wanting to fulfill his AchAryan’s instructions on his own rejects the boy’s
help. ananthAzhwAn’s wife accepts the boy’s help in absence of ananthAzhwAn.
Coming to know about that, ananthAzhwAn becomes very angry and he starts chasing
the buy and finally throws his crow-bar on the boy. The crow-bar hits the chin of the boy
but the boy vanishes into the temple. thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn‘s chin itself looks hurt and
that is why even today pachai karpUram (camphor) is applied on
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn’s chin to cool down the wound.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of ananthAzhwAn. He was fully
situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray
at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
ananthAzhwAn’s thaniyan:
AchAryan: kUrathAzhwAn
thiuvarangathu amudhanAr was previously known as periya kOil nambi. He was the
official guardian of srI rangam temple and was doing purOhithyam (reading purANam,
vEdha viNNappam, etc). Initially, he was not favourable towards emperumAnAr‘s
When emperumAnAr was declared by periya perumAL as udayavar (the master) and
wanted all the activities in the temple to be organized in the most optimum way, periya
kOil nambi did not allow easy access to emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr became
frustrated and first decided to remove him from his position. But one day, when
emperumAnAr was waiting for perumAL’s purappAdu, emperumAn appears in his
dream and informs him that periya kOil nambi is dear to him since he has served him for
too long.
emperumAnAr then engages AzhwAn to educate and guide periya kOil nambi so that
he becomes fit to serve him and allow his reforms. AzhwAn starts slowly making an
impact and eventually one day periya kOil nambi wants to become the sishya of
emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr advises periya kOil nambi to accept AzhwAn as his
AchArya since he was the one who reformed him. periya kOil nambi then becomes
named amudhanAr by emperumAnAr himself due to his classic ability to write nectarean
poems in thamizh. Subsequently, amudhanAr develops extreme attachment towards
AzhwAn and emperumAnAr.
When amudhanAr’s mother passes away, on the 11th day, a ceremony named
EkOthishtam is to be performed where a person is assumed to be the body of the
deceased person and offered a great feast. At the end of the feast, the consumer of the
feast will be asked if he is satisfied and unless he says he is fully satisfied, the
ceremony does not become complete. The main aspect of this ceremony is, the one
consuming the feast cannot participate in any temple kainkaryam for 1 full year those
days. amudhanAr wanting to have an advanced srIvaishNava approaches
emperumAnAr and asks him to identify such person. emperumAnAr at once asks
AzhwAn to go to that ceremony and AzhwAn happily accepts. Once the feast is over,
amudhanAr asks AzhwAn if he was satisfied and AzhwAn says he will be satisfied only
it the temple control is handed over to emperumAnAr. amudhanAr at once agrees and
hands the temple keys and control to emperumAnAr through AzhwAn to fulfill his
commitment. At that time, amudhanAr also gives the purOhithyam kainkaryam to
AzhwAn (thus we can see descendants of AzhwAn still continuing this kainkaryam in
srIrangam). amudhanAr becomes less attached to the temple since he gave up all his
kainkaryams. Seeing that, emperumAnAr goes to thiruvarangapperumAL arayar and
requests him to give the iyaRpA recital right to him. arayar obliges and gives the same
to emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr then teaches iyaRpA to amudhanAr and asks him to
perform iyaRpA recital in srIrangam temple permanently thus engaging him in
emperumAn’s kainkaryam as well.
nadAthUr ammAL who was the leader amongst great scholars declared that
emperumAnAr is both the means and goal for srIvaishNavas based on pERonRu
maRRillai pAsuram (45) and ninRa vaN kIrthi pAsuram (76) of this divine prabhandham
named rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi.
mAmunigaL has written a most beautiful and short commentary for rAmAnusa
nURRanthAdhi. In the introduction section, he is beautifully bringing out the glories of
amudhanAr and rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi. Let us see the gist of that.
amudhanAr was an expert in thamizh and samskritham. This helped him present very
beautiful meanings for many pAsurams in aruLicheyal. Let us see one example here:
bhattar takes great pride in being born as the son of AzhwAn. He himself declares that
in his sahasranAma bhAshyam he was born to AzhwAn who has the great wealth of the
relationship to emperumAnAr. amudhanAr also has the connection of AzhwAn which he
himself declares in the 7th pAsuram of rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi. Once, amudhanAr
out of great ecstasy informs to bhattar through another srIvaishNava that “You only
have bodily relationship with AzhwAn but I have an intellectual relationship with
AzhwAn”. bhattar replies that “thats fine! but you yourself should not boast about it”.
AzhwAn‘s relationship is so great that it leads to amudhanAr going over-board on his
pride – but the great thing about this in the matters of our pUrvAchAryas is, they dont
take these issues beyond those discussions and have any ill-feeling towards others.
Issues are resolved then and there in a magnanimous way and this is what we have to
understand from such incidents. We must also greatly appreciate our pUrvAchAryas
honesty for having recorded even such incidents instead of hiding them under the
carpet (which could have been easily done).
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of thiruvarangathu amudhanAr.
He was fully situated bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to both emperumAnAr and
AzhwAn. Let us pray at their lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.
AchAryan: engaLAzhwAn
Born in kAnchIpuram, he was named varadharAjan by his parents. He is the grand son
of nadhAthUr AzhwAn who is one of the srIbhAshya simhAsanAdhipathis (leader)
appointed by emperumAnAr himself.
He was serving kAnchIpuram dhEva perumAL every day by offering him warm milk. He
would prepare the milk with perfect warmth, just like how a mother would prepare milk
for her child. That is why he was fondly honoured by dhEva perumAL himself as
ammAL or vAthsya varadhAchAryar.
When ammAL wanted to learn srIbhAshyam from his grandfather, his grandfather due
to his old age, asks ammAL to go to engaLAzhwAn and learn the same. ammAL goes
to engaLAzhwAn's thirumALigai (home) and knocks on the door. engaLAzhwAn asks
"Who is that?" and ammAL replies "I am varadhan". engaLAzhwAn says "Come back
after the 'I' dies". ammAL returns to his home and enquires from his grandfather about
the incident. nadhAthUr AzhwAn says we must always introduce ourselves as "adiyEn"
(dhAsan) with total humility and never use the terms "I", "I am", etc., which are the
cause of ahankAram (ego). Understanding the principle, ammAL returns to
engaLAzhwAn and knocks at the door. This time when engaLAzhwAn asks who is at
the door, ammAL replies "adiyEn varadhan is here". Being pleased, engaLAzhwAn
welcomes ammAL, accepts him as his sishya and teaches him all the valuable
principles. engaLAzhwAn also becomes to be known as ammAL AchAryan, since he
became the AchAryan of nadAthUr ammAL who becomes to be a great scholar.
ammAL's prime sishya is sruthaprakAsika bhattar (sudharsana sUri - who is the grand
son of vEdha vyAsa bhattar) who learns srI bhAshyam from ammAL and goes on to
write the glorious commentary sruthaprakAsikai for srI bhAshyam and commentaries for
vEdhArtha sangraham and sharaNAgathi gadhyam as well.
Once ammAL was teaching srI bhAshyam to a dozen srIvaishNavas. The students say
bhakthi yOgam is very difficult to follow. He then explains prapathi to them. They further
say prapathi is even more difficult to implement. At that time, ammAL says, "Just think
that emperumAnAr's lotus feet is the only refuge and you will be redeemed".
In his final days, when his sishyas ask nadAthUr ammAL what is their refuge, he replies
"bhakthi and prapathi are not fit for your svarUpam; Simply take shelter of
emperumAnAr and fully depend on him; your ultimate goal will be accomplished".
In vArthA mAlai, a few incidents involving nadAthUr ammAL are identified. Let us see
them now:
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of nadAthUr ammAL. He was a
great scholar and was very dear to engaLAzhwAn. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we
too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
AchAryan: embAr
Sishyas: nanjIyar
Works: ashtaslOki, srirangarAja sthavam, sri guNa rathna kOsam, bhagavadh guNa
dharpaNam (vishnu sahasranAma vyAkyAnam), srirangarAja sthOthram
Both bhattars were born to AzhwAn and ANdAL out of the prasAdham from periya
perumAL (srI ranganAthan). Once when AzhwAn and ANdAL were lying down in the
evening without consuming any prasAdham (AzhwAn was doing unja vruthi and on that
day due to rain he was unable to collect any grains), they hear the final naivEdhyam bell
ringing from the temple. ANdAL says to emperumAn “Here you have AzhwAn who is
your pure devotee without any prasAdham but you are enjoying nice bhOgam there”.
Understanding this, periya perumAL sends his prasAdham to AzhwAn and ANdAL with
all his paraphernelia through uththama nambi. Seeing the prasAdham coming in,
AzhwAn is awe-struck. Immediately, he turns to ANdAL and asks did you complain to
emperumAn and ANdAL admits her request. AzhwAn becomes upset for insisting
emperumAn to provide for their prasAdham. He accepts 2 handfuls of prasAdham
alone, consumes some and gives the remnants to ANdAL. Those 2 handfuls of
prasAdham eventually blesses them with two beautiful children.
embAr performs dhvaya mahA manthrOpadhEsam to both parAsara and vEdha vyAsa
bhattars when they were only 11 days old and emperumAnAr orders him to be the
AchAryan for both of them. emperumAnAr also instructs kUrthAzhwAn to give parAsara
bhattar as an adopted son for periya perumAL and AzhwAn does so. bhattar was also
taken care off by sriranga nAchiAr herself in her sannidhi when he was very young.
When bhattar was very young, he once comes to periya kOil for mangalAsAsanam. At
that time after bhattar worships periya perumAL, he comes out and emperumAnAr tells
ananthAzhwAn and other srivaishnavas, that bhattar should be treated just like himself.
bhattar was extremely brilliant right from his childhood. There are many incidents which
prove this fact.
Once when he was playing in the street, a vidhwAn named sarvajna bhattan
comes in a palanquin. bhattar shocked to see some one being carried in a
palanquin in srirangam, goes straight to him and challenges him for a debate.
sarvajna bhattan considers bhattar as a child and says bhattar can ask any
question and that will be answered by him. bhattar picks a handful of sand asks
how much sand he has in his hand. sarvajna bhattan becomes speechless and
says he does not know. bhattar says that he could have just answered “its a
handful”. Amazed by bhattar’s brilliance, sarvajna bhattan at once comes down
from a palanquin and carries bhattar to his parents and glorify him.
When he was very young during his gurukulam time, bhattar was playing in the
streets. At that time, AzhwAn comes by and asks why bhattar was playing
Also, similar to AzhwAn, bhattar would also get immersed in thiruvAimozhi and its
meanings. There are many such incidents that are shown in vyAkyAnams. Many times
when AzhwAr sings in the mood of parAnkusa nAyaki – bhattar would just say “no one
can understand what is going on in AzhwAr’s mind now”.
There are many incidents which portray bhattar’s humility, magnanimity, brilliance, etc.
bhattar’s humility is praised by maNavALa mAmunigaL in yathirAja vimsathi in
comparison with ALavandhAr’s and AzhwAn’s humility. Actually the vyAkyAnams is
filled with Idhihyams (incidents) and nirvAhams (instructions/conclusions) of bhattar.
There are so many incidents like this in his life which are absolutely enjoyable every
second and every time we read it again and again.
bhattar is very attached to sriranga nAchiAr who is his mother. He is attached to her
even more than periya perumAL. Once when namperumAL adorns nAchiAr thirukkOlam
and asks he if looks like sriranga nAchiAr – bhatter says everything is fine, but the
karuNai in her eyes are not to be seen in the eyes of emperumAn. This also reminds us
how hanumAn compares rAman and sIthai and in the end says sIthai is asithEkshaNa
(have beautiful eyes) which is even better than rAman emperumAn’s eyes. sriguNa
rathna kOsam is his out pourings of his attachment towards sriranga nAchiAr.
Bhattar gives wonderful explanations for many pAsurams where the meanings are
difficult to understand. Let us see a couple here.
One of the highlights of bhattar’s life is him going to thirunArAyaNapuram to debate and
bring nanjIyar in to our sampradhAyam. It was emperumAnAr’s divine order that
nanjIyar should be reformed. bhattar goes all the way to thirunArAyaNapuram in his
palanquin with grand srivaishnava gOshti to debate with madhavAcharyar (nanjIyar’s
original name) on the sidhAntham. Eventually he was stopped and suggested that going
like that in a grand manner will not be favourable as the disciples of mAdhavAchAryar
will stop him and just delay him from meeting him forever. So he changes to a very
simple attire and goes to the thathiArAdhana kUtam (hall) of mAdhavAchAriar. He waits
there without eating and mAdhavAchAriar taking a note of him, comes to him and asks
him why he does not eat and what he wants. bhattar says he wants to debate with him.
mAdhavAchAriar having heard about bhattar before quickly realises this to bhattar
(since no one will have the guts to challenge him) engages with bhattar for a debate.
bhattar first uses thirunedunthAntakam to establish the parathvam of emperumAn and
subsequently presents all the meanings from sAsthram. mAdhavAchAriar accepts the
defeat and falls at the lotus feet of bhattar and accepts him as AchAryan. bhattar gives
him specific instructions to learn aruLicheyal, etc and teaches him our sampradhAya
arthams. bhattar takes leave from him and goes to srirangam on the day before the start
of adhyayana uthsavam. There is a grand welcome arranged in srirangam for bhattar.
bhattar goes to periya perumAL and he narrates in front of him the whole incidents.
periya perumAL being very pleased orders bhattar to recite thirunedunthAntagam and
this is made a custom ever after that in srirangam – the adhyayana uthsavam starts with
the recital of thirundenthAntagam there alone.
bhattar was the first to document rahasya thrayam in a grantham. His ashta slOki is a
master piece, where thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam are explained
excellently in just eight slOkams. Also, in srirangarAja sthavam, he explains most
complicated sAstra arthams in simple slOkams. In vishnu sahasranAma vyAkyAnam, he
shows that each thirunAmam relates to a particular guNam of emperumAn and his
explanations are of absolute beauty. sri guNa rathna ghOsam is a dedication to sriranga
nAchiAr which is unparallel to any other work.
Let us pray at the lotus feet of bhattar that we also develop such attachment towards
emperumAn and AchAryan.
bhattar’s thanian
:
:
AchAryan: embAr
vEdha vyAsa bhattar is the illustrious son of kUrathAzhwAn and the younger brother of
parAsara bhattar. He is also known as srI rAma piLLai, srI rAma sUri, etc. sudharsana
sUri (srutha prakAsikA bhattar), the one who wrote the commentary for srI bhAshyam, is
a descendant of vEdha vyAsa bhattar.
Both bhattars were born to AzhwAn and ANdAL out of the prasAdham from periya
perumAL (srI ranganAthan). Once when AzhwAn and ANdAL were lying down in the
evening without consuming any prasAdham (AzhwAn was doing unja vruthi and on that
On the 12th day after the birth of the two children, emperumAnAr arrives with embAr
and all his sishyas to AzhwAn‘s home. He asks embAr to bring the children over.
embAr, while bringing the children over, recites dhvaya mahA manthram in their ears
and hands over the children to emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr at once identifies that
they have had dhvaya manthrOpadhEsam and asks embAr to be their AchAryan.
embAr happily accepts that and teaches them all the divine principles of our
sidhAntham. emperumAnAr then names the children parAsara bhattar and vEdha
vyAsa bhattar in memory of sage parAsara and sage vEdha vyAsa for their contribution
for sanAthana dharmam. Thus he fulfills one of the vows to ALavandhAr where he said
he will do something which will show our gratitude to the sages parAsara and vEdha
vyAsa.
Of the two brothers, parAsara bhattar lived for a short period and left to paramapadham
out of great desire to leave samsAram. ANdAL (bhattar’s mother) was magnanimous
during the last moments of bhattar and oversees bhattar’s final rites blissfully
considering bhattar himself wanted to go to parampadham to perform eternal service to
srIman nArAyaNan there. On completion of the final rites, vEdha vyAsa bhattar returns
home and starts crying out loud out of separation from parAsara bhattar. ANdAL at once
chastises vEdha vyAsa bhattar and asks if he is jealous of parAsara bhattar ascending
to paramapadham. vEdha vyAsa bhattar realizes his mistake at once, consoles himself,
begs his mother for pardon and continues the great celebrations for parAsara bhattar.
periya perumAL invites vEdha vyAsa bhattar over to his sannidhi and tells him “Dont
think that parAsara bhattar has left you. I am here for you like your father.”. vEdha
vyAsa bhattar then leads the sampradhAyam with other stalwarts such as nanjIyar, etc.
In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams (incidents) that show the glories of vEdha vyAsa
bhattar are seen. Let us see some of them now.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of vEdha vyAsa bhattar. He was
fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
Born as the grand son of vEdha vyAsa bhattar and named as sudhasana sUri
(sudharsana bhattar), he becomes to be a great scholar of our sampradhAyam. He is
the one who wrote the most important/in-depth commentaries for srI bhAshyam named
srutha prakAsikai and srutha pradhIpikai. He named them such that it will be understood
that the principles are explained as heard from emperumAnAr through nadAthUr
ammAL.
bhattar went to kAnchIpuram to learn srI bhAshyam from ammAL. ammAL, appreciating
bhattar’s brilliance and intellect, use to wait for him to arrive for the kAlakshEpam and
only then he will start his lectures. Some sishyas of ammAL started saying that it is
because of bhattar’s high family background ammAL was being partial towards him.
ammAL wanting to reveal the glories of bhattar, once stops in the middle of a lecture
and asks everyone what he explained the previous day on that topic. While everyone
else is dumb-founded, bhattar beautifully explains everything word-by-word. Seeing
that, ammAL‘s sishyas understand the greatness of bhattar.
Just like nampiLLai, periyavAchAn piLLai, etc wrote commentaries for dhivya
prabhandhams and firmly established the in-depth meanings of them, bhattar wrote
commentaries for srI bhAshyam, vEdhArtha sangraham, etc and established the in-
depth meanings of samskritha vEdhAntham.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of srutha prakAsikA bhattar. He
was a great scholar and was very dear to nadAthUr ammAL. Let us pray at his lotus feet
that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
nanjIyar – thirunArAyaNapuram
mAdhavAchAryar also hears about bhattar’s glories and was longing to meet him.
Based on emperumAnAr’s desire, bhattar goes to thirunArAyaNapuram, debates with
mAdhavAchAriar, getting frustrated with his wives who are unfavourable for his
kainkaryams and unable to bear the separation from his AchAryan decides to become a
sannyAsi and go to srirangam to be with his AchAryan. He divides his huge wealth into
3 parts, gives 2 parts to each of his 2 wives (since sAsthram says that wives should be
taken care off before accepting sannyAsAshramam), accepts sannyAsAshramam and
begins his journey to srirangam. On his way, ananthAzhwAn meets him and asks him
the need for taking for sannyAsAhramam. He says if he goes to bhattar and simply
serve, emperumAn will give mOksham anyway. He says to mAdhavAchAriar “let you be
born in thirumanthram (understanding the Athma svarUpam) and grow in dhvayam
(doing kainkaryam to perumAL and pirAtti)”. bhattar seeing mAdhavAchAriar and his
dedication, accepts him and calls him “you are nam jIyar” and then onwards he
becomes to be known as nanjIyar.
nanjIyar’s AchArya bhakthi was boundless. Let us see some incidents through which we
can understand his AchArya bhakthi.
Once during a procession of bhattar on his palanquin, nanjIyar tried to carry him
as well with his thridhandam on one shoulder and the palanquin on the other.
bhattar said “jIyA, this does not fit your sannyAsAshramam. you should not carry
me”. For that nanjIyar says “if my thridhandam becomes a hurdle for my service
to you, I will break it and give up the sannyAsAshramam”.
Once when some EkAngis (his assistants) were complaining to nanjIyar that
there were some disturbances in the garden due to the arrival of bhattar, nanjIyar
says the purpose of the garden is to serve bhattar and his family not for
namperumAL and asks his EkAngis to always keep that in mind.
bhattar and nanjIyar had several interesting conversations. nanjIyar, even though he
was a great scholar, he never hesitated asking doubts and clarifying them from his
AchAryan. Let us see some of his conversations here:
nanjIyar asks bhattar why AzhwArs are very attached to kannan emperumAn.
bhattar says that everyone remembers more recent activities. It is because
krishnAvathAram is the most recent avathAram of emperumAn and the AzhwArs
missed meeting kannan emperumAn personally even being born quite recently
(relatively speaking compare to other avathArams) they are very attached to him.
bhattar also explains that in krishnAvathAram, emperumAn is living in gOpa
kulam. Wherever he goes he meets with asuras – kamsan has his servants
waiting to kill kannan emperumAn everywhere. But in rAmAvathAram (and other
avathArams as well), emperumAn himself has learnt all weaponry. His father
dhasarathan was brave enough to even help indhran during difficulties. His
brothers (lakshmaNan, bharathan, shathrugnan) were equally brave and
capable. Thus periyAzhwAr feared for kannan emperumAn more than other
avathArams.
kaliyan in thirumozhi “oru nal suRRam” padhigam (towards the end of thirumozhi)
does mangaLAsAsanam for many dhivyadhEsams. nanjIyar asks the reason for
that and bhattar says, a girl who is getting married and leaving to her husband’s
When nanjIyar wanted to make a nice copy of his 9000 padi vyAkyAnam, nambUr
varadhAchAriar was identified as a great writer to do that. He completes the work and
eventually nanjIyar praises him and names him nampiLLai and makes him the
dharisana pravarthakar. nanjIyar also constantly glorifies nampiLLai when nampiLLai
gives a better explanation than him. This shows his magnanimity as well.
Towards the end of his life, he requests emperumAn to show his svayam thirumEni and
namperumAL does that for him specially. Fully satisfied with that, nanjIyar gives many
final instructions to his sishyas and gives up his charama thirumEni and attains
paramapadham.
Let us pray at the lotus feet of nanjIyar that we also develop such attachment towards
emperumAn and AchAryan.
nanjIyar’s thanian
nampiLLai – thiruvallikkENI
AchAryan: nanjIyar
nanjIyar wanted to make a nice copy of his 9000padi vyAkyAnam. When he was
enquiring in the srivaishnava gOshti, nambUr varadharAjar’s name was proposed.
varadharAjar tells nanjIyar that he will write to the satisfaction of nanjIyar’s thiruvuLLam.
nanjIyar first gives full kAlakshEpam of 9000 padi to varadharAjar and then gives the
only original copy to him. varadharAjar decides to go across cauvery to his native place
so that he can focus on the writing and finish it quickly. While crossing the river,
suddenly floods appear and varadharAjar starts swimming across. While doing so, the
original grantham slips away from his hands and he is dhEvastated. After reaching his
native place, he meditates on his AchAryan and the meanings given by him and starts
re-writing 9000 padi vyAkyAnam. Since he was an expert in Tamizh language and
literature, he adds nice meanings wherever applicable and finally returns back to
nanjIyar and submits the same to him. nanjIyar seeing the vyAkyAnam, understands
that there are some changes from the original, enquires what happened. varadharAjar
explains the whole incident and nanjIyar is mighty pleased hearing the same. Truly
understanding varadharAjar’s glories, nanjIyar names him “nampiLLai” and
“thirukkalikanRi dhAsar”.
nampiLLai had several unique qualities and his greatness cannot be measured. He had
great command over tamizh/samskritham language and literature. In his lectures he
was able to freely quote thirukkuraL, nannUl, kamba rAmAyaNam, etc and also from
vEdhAntham, vishNu purANam, sri vAlmIkI rAmAyaNam, etc. He was also an expert in
nampiLLai regularly lectured at the eastern side (periya perumAL’s thiruvadi side)
of the pradhakshiNam around the main sanctum at periya kOil. That is why even
today we offer our praNamams there specifically after coming out of the sannidhi
in that side. Once periya perumAL stood up and tried to watch nampiLLai’s
upanyAsam. thiruviLakku pichan (a srivaishnava who took care of the lamps and
lighting in the sannidhi) looked at periya perumAL in standing posture and
pushed him down to his lying down posture saying that he cannot move in
archAvathAram. emperumAn even broke his archA samAdhi to watch and listen
to nampiLLai.
nampiLLai’s lectures were so popular that often everyone will ask if this is
namperumAL gOshti or nampiLLai gOshti. He was able to attract people to his
lectures just like namperumAL was able to attract them for his purappAdu, etc.
nampiLLai’s humility was unparallel. He lived like an example of
srivaishnavathvam which he learned from nanjIyar. Once in front of
namperumAL, kandhAdai thOzhappar (who comes in the lineage of
mudhaliANdAn) says some harsh words towards nampiLLai. He was not able to
Once when nampiLLai along with his sishyas was returning from thiruveLLarai on
a boat, cauvery started flooding and the boat man mentions to the gOshti that
some one should jump out to maintain the balance of the boat and save
nampiLLai. Hearing this one old lady jumped out into the floods and nampiLLai
became very sad. But when they reached the banks they heard the voice of the
old lady from a near by island and she said nampiLLai appeared in front of her
and saved her. The old lady shows how to serve AchAryan even at the cost of
giving up our own life. And nampiLLai shows how to protect the sishyas even in
dire situations.
Once a srivaisnava lady living in the next door of nampiLLai was approached by
a srivaishnavar and he said that since her house is right next to nampiLLai’s
thirumALigai, if she gave her thirumALigai to nampiLLai that will allow
nampiLLai’s thirumALgai can be extended and that will benefit a bigger
srivaishnava gOshti. The lady first hesitates but then goes to nampiLLai and
requests that he gives a place for her in paramapadham for her offering.
nampiLLai happily writes a note for her and with that she leaves her charam
sarIram a few days later and reaches paramapadham.
nampiLLai had two wives. He once asked his first wife how she thinks of him.
She replies that she considers nampiLLai to be an avathAram of emperumAn
and treats her as his AchAryan. nampiLLai was very pleased and asks her to be
engaged in thadhiArAdhana kainkaryam fully for the srivaishnavas who visit
nampiLLai regularly. He then asks his second wife how she thinks of him. She
replies that she considers nampiLLai as her dear husband. nampiLLai asks her
to assist his first wife and asks the second wife to accept the prasAdham of the
srivaishnavas. He says that taking srivaishnava sEsham will purify her and
increase her level of nishtai to something spiritual (AchArya-sishyai) from her
bodily views (Husband-Wife).
When mahAbhAshya bhattar enquires nampiLLai what should be the thinking of
a srivaishnava after realising his chaithanyam (knowledge). nampiLLai replies
that such srivaishnavas should always think emperumAn is upAyam and
upEyam, should be thankful for AchAryan who cured this time immemorial
disease of samsAram, should think that emperumAnAr sidhAntham established
through sribhAshyam as the truth, should do bhagavadh guNAnusandhAnam
through sri rAmAyaNam and should spend our time fully in AzhwAr’s aruLicheyal.
Finally he also says we should have firm faith that at the end of this very life we
will see paramapadham.
Some srivaishnavas from pandiya nAdu visits nampiLLai and asks him to give
the essence of our sampradhAyam. nampiLLai instructs them to think of the sea
shore. When they are puzzled and asks what to think about in a sea shore,
Finally to conclude, let us see what periyavAchAn piLLAi has to say about nampiLLai in
Ezhai Ethalan padhigam, Othu vAimaiyum pAsuram (periya thirumozhi 5.8.7). While
explaining the terms “anthaNan oruvan” (unique scholar), periyavAchAn takes that
opportunity to glorify his AchAryan and he says his AchAryan is the most unique scholar
using the following words: “muRpada dhvayaththaik kEttu, ithihAsa
purAnNanGgaLaiyum athigariththu, parapaksha prathkshEpaththukkudalAga
NyAyamImAmsaikaLum athigariththu, pOthupOkkum aruLicheyalilEyAmpadi
piLLaiyaippOlE athigarippikka vallavanaiyirE oruvan enbathu” (
,இ ,
,
9000 padi even though originally was written by nanjIyar, it was re-written by
nampiLLai with some special insights and meanings.
24000 padi was written by periyavAchAn piLLai based on nampiLLai’s teachings
and instruction.
36000 padi was written by vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai based on what was lectured
by nampiLLai.
12000 padi was written by periyavAchAn piLLai’s sishya vAdhi kEsari azhagiya
maNavALa jIyar and from the meanings presented we can easily understand that
it closely follows nampiLLai’s 36000 padi.
Not only that, nampiLLai out of his boundless mercy, laid the foundation for 2 glorious
pillars of our sampradhAyam – piLLai lOkAchAriar and azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr who gave us srivachana bhUshaNam and AchArya hrudhayam respectively
based on the knowledge received from our pUrvAchAryas. We will see this charithram
in our next article (vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai vaibhavam).
Let us pray at the lotus feet of nampiLLai that we also develop such attachment towards
emperumAn and AchAryan.
nampiLLai’s thanian
AchAryan: nampiLLai
vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai was completely situated in AchArya nishtai and even after
entering gruhasthAshramam he was not showing any interest in begetting any children.
Worried about that, his mother goes to nampiLLai and complains about vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai’s nature. Hearing that, nampiLLai invites both vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai
and his wife, blesses his wife with his krupai and instructs vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai to
AzhwAr and vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai both are born in Ani swAthi.
AzhwAr wrote thirupallAndu and periyAzhwAr thirumozhi by the grace of
emperumAn. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai wrote eedu 36000 padi by the grace of
nampiLLai.
AzhwAr gave ANdAL to our sampradhAyam and he raised her feeding
krishnAnubhavam. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai gave piLLai lOkAchAryar and
azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr and raised them feeding bhagavath
anubhavam.
vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai while hearing thiruvAimozhi lectures from nampiLLai, spends
the time with his AchAryan in the day time and spends the time recording them in palm
leaves regularly in the night time. Thus he writes the eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam
based on nampiLLai’s lectures without the knowledge of nampiLLai. Once vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai invites nampiLLai to his thirumAligai for thadhiyArAdhanam and
nampiLLai accepts that and visits his thirumALigai. nampiLLai himself starts the
thiruvArAdhanam and in the kOilAzhwAr he sees the bunch of palm leaves with the
vyAkyAnam. Being interested, he starts reading a few of them and asks vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai what is that. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai explains that he recorded
nampiLLai’s lectures and nampiLLai instructs vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai to do the
thiruvArAdhanam while he starts reading the palm leaves. He also asks periyavAchAn
piLLai and eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL to go through the same and they both read and
glorify it very much. nampiLLai asks vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai why he did this without
his permission and also asks if he did it as a competition to periyavAchAn piLLai’s
vyAkyAnam. vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai completely upset with himself, falls at the lotus
feet of nampiLLai and explains that he wrote that so that he can refer it for the future.
Convinced with his explanations, nampiLLai glorifies the vyAkyAnam and says vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai is an avathAra visEsham to be able to do such work without missing
anything from his lectures. nampiLLai also says he would give the vyAkyAnam to
eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL (who carries nanjIyar’s pUrvAshramam name – mAdhavar)
to teach it to his descendants eventually to be revealed to every one by maNavALa
mAmunigaL. By the grace of emperumAn, nampiLLai was able to foresee the
appearance of mAmunigaL and he informs the same to eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL
vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai became the leader of the sampradhAyam after nampiLLai
attaining paramapadham. He teaches all the meanings to both piLLai lOkAchAryar and
azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr. In srivachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram
piLLai lOkAchAryar refers to vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai’s instructions in a few places:
In sUthram 77, it is said that when the ahankAram is given up, AthmA can only
be called adiyAn. It is shown in yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam that this
instruction was explained by vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai.
In sUthram 443, piLLai lOkAchAryar says that vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai explains
always that, for jIvAthmAs who have been in this samsAram since time
immemorial due to their sva svAthanthriyam, the only way to relieve themselves
from the samsAram is by surrendering to a sadhAchAryan.
After some time vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai gives up his charama thirumEni thinking
about his Acharyan nampiLLai and attains paramapadham.
Let us pray at the lotus feet of vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai that we also develop such
attachment towards emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.
The power of his grace can also be understood from the incident happened in vAdhi
kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar. jIyar, in his pUrvAshramam was serving in the
thirumadappaLLi (kitchen) of periyavAchAn piLLai's thirumALigai. He was an illiterate
but had strong devotion towards his AchAryan. Once when he overheard some
srivaishnavas discussing some vEdhAntha vishayam, he enquired from them about the
topic of discussion. Them being arrogant and considering him as an illiterate said they
were discussing about a grantham called "musala kisalayam" (newly blossomed
pounder). He went and mentioned this to his AchAryan and periyavAchAn piLLai out of
his grace decided to teach everything to him. After a few years, he becomes a master of
all sAstram and goes on to become vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar and writes
several granthams himself on our sampradhAyam.
Just like periya perumAL, periya pirAtti, periya thiruvadi, periyAzhwAr and periya kOil,
AchAn piLLai also due to his greatness became to be known as periyavAchAn piLLai.
pAsuram: 43
nampiLLai thammudaiya NallaruLAl Eviyidap
pin periyavAchAn piLLai athanAl
inbA varubathi mARan maRaip poruLai chonnathu
irupathu nAlAyiram
இ
இ
Simple Translation: Out of his grace, nampiLLai orders periyavAchAn piLLai to write a
commentary for thiruvAimozhi. Having that in mind, periyavAchAn piLLai wrote the most
enjoyable commentary for nammAzhwAr's thiruvAimozhi which is the essence of all
vEdhas. The commentary was written similar to sri rAmAyaNam, i.e., containing 24000
padi (similar to 24000 slOkams in sri rAmAyaNam).
Also, mAmunigaL in pAsuram 39, identifies that periyavAchAn piLLai was one of the 5
vyAkyAna karthAs for thiruvAimozhi, there by saving it and propagating it to everyone
since without the vyAkyAnams we cannot understand the inner meanings of
aruLicheyal.
Several incidents from his life are recorded in vArthA mAlai grantham and other
pUrVAchArya granthams. Let us see some here:
I worship periyavAchAn piLLai who is the son of yAmunar and whose katAksham will
make emperumAn sriman nArAyanan's grace fall on us very easily.
Let us bow down at his lotus feet and ever remember his contribution to our
sampradhAyam.
nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti - eeyNNi mAdhava perumAL seated 2nd from right
AchAryan: nampiLLai
"eethal" means charity in thamizh. "uNNuthal" is eating. eeyuNNi means one who is
very charitable that he will only eat after feeding other srIvaishNavas.
vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai was a dear sishya of nampiLLai. While hearing thiruvAimozhi
kAlakhsEpams from nampiLLai during the day time, he was recording them in the night
regularly. After completing the lecture series once, nampiLLai visits vadakku thiruvIdhi
piLLai‘s home once. He notices the palm leaves containing the words which are uttered
by him during his thiruvAimozhi kAlakshEpams. He reads them fully and was greatly
pleased with the manner in which everything was recorded to perfection. Still, he was
upset that vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai wrote this without his permission. He shows his
dissent but eventually gets convinced by vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai’s great dedication.
This vyAkyAnam of thiruvAimozhi becomes to be famously known as eedu 36000 padi.
He hands over the palm leaves to eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL and asks him to teach
the same to his descendants. This charithram is explained in
http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/vadakku-thiruveedhi-pillai/.
eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL teaches this to his son eeyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL.
eyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL’s thirunakshathram is svAthi. eeyuNNi padhmanAbha
perumAL teaches this to his dear sishya nAlur piLLai.
nAlUrAchAn piLLai is the son and dear sishya of nAlUr piLLai. His thirunakshathram is
mArgazhi bharaNi. He is also known as dhEvarAjAchAn piLLai, dhEvEsar, dhEvAdhipar
and mElnAdu AchAn piLLai. nAlUrAchAn piLLai learns eedu 36000 padi under the lotus
feet of his father. His sishyas include thirunArAyaNapurathu Ay, iLampiLichaipiLLai and
thiruvAimozhi piLLai.
nAlUr piLLai or nAlUrAchAn piLLai is said to have written vyAkyAnams for thirumozhi
and periyAzhwAr thirumozhi.
In the 48th pAsuram, he says vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai documented eedu 36000
padi vyAkyAnam and nampiLLai took that away from him and handed it over to
eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL.
In the 49th pAsuram, he says from eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL, his son
eeyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL learns it and subsequently its transmitted to
nAlUr piLLai and nAlUrAchAn piLLai. Subsequently it is then taught to
thiruvAimozhi piLLai, thirunArAyaNapurathu Ay, etc.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of eeyNNi mAdhava perumAL.
He was a great scholar and was very dear to nampiLLai. Let us pray at his lotus feet
that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai. We have also seen how eedu was
transmitted from nampiLLai to maNavALa mAmunigaL in this article.
nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti – naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar seated 3rd from left
sishya: vaLamazhagiyAr
He is said to be the son or the grand son of parAsara bhattar. He was named as
uththaNda bhattar and later becomes to be famously known as naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai
bhattar. Note: It is stated that he is the son of parAsara bhattar in periya thirumudi
nampiLLai‘s period in srIrangam is said to be the most glorious and golden period for
srIvaishNavam in srIrangam due to continuous bhagavath anubhavam without any
disturbance. nampiLLai had great number of sishyas and followers who were regularly
attending his kAlakshEpams. naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar did not have a favourable
attitude towards nampiLLai though. Due to his rich family heritage he developed pride
and did not respect nampiLLai initially.
Once, naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar was going to the king’s court. He meets
pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar on the way and invites him along to attend the king’s
court. Since jIyar had great respect for bhattar for his family heritage, he accompanied
him. The king receives them, honours them and offers them a nice seat. The king being
well learned, wanting to test the intelligence of bhattar, asks him a question from srI
rAmAyaNa. He says “srI rAman himself claims that ‘He is just a human being and is the
dear son of dhasarathan’. But during the last moments of jatAyu, srI rAman benedicts
him to reach srIvaikuntam.So, is this not contradictory?”. bhattar was speechless and
could not respond with any meaningful explanation. Incidentally, the king gets distracted
by some other task. At that time, bhattar turns to jIyar and asks him “How would
nampiLLai explain this?”. jIyar replies “nampiLLai explains this using ‘sathyEna lOkAn
jayathi‘ slOkam” which means a fully truthful person can control all worlds – so just by
truthfulness alone he was able to conquer all worlds. bhattar, himself being intelligent,
explains that to the king, when the king focusses back on them. The king, being
intelligent as well, at once agrees to the principle and honours bhattar with great wealth.
bhattar, with great gratitude/reverence towards nampiLLai, asks jIyar to connect him
with nampiLLai, at once goes to nampiLLai’s residence and submits all the wealth given
by the king at the lotus feet of nampiLLai. bhattar says to nampiLLai that “I received all
these wealth for just 1 small explanation from your teachings” and offers them all to
nampiLLai himself. He then tells nampiLLai that “all along I have lost the valuable
association/guidance of yourself. From now on, I will ensure that I will serve you well
and learn the sampradhAyam principles from you”. nampiLLai embraces bhattar and
teaches him all the essence of our sampradhAyam.
nampiLLai teaches thiruvAimozhi to bhattar fully. bhattar hears them in the morning,
contemplates on the meanings and documents them in detail every night. Once the
lecture series is over, he submits his writing at the lotus feet of nampiLLai. nampiLLai,
observes the detailed documentation of thiruvAimozhi to the length of 125000 padi
(similar in size to mahAbhAratham). nampiLLai becomes worried that if there was such
detailed documentation, people will ignore the guru-disciple teaching/learning
In the vyAkyAnams, the following incident involving naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar is
identified. Let us see them now:
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai
bhattar. He was a great scholar and was very dear to nampiLLai. Let us pray at his lotus
feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti – pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar seated 2nd from left
AchAryan: nampiLLai
Works: 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam. He is also said to be the author of
vArthA mAlai but there is lack of clarity in that.
In the vyAkyAnams, the following incident involving pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar are
identified.
In vArtha mAlai, a few incidents involving pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar are identified.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar.
He was a great scholar and was very dear to nampiLLai. Let us pray at his lotus feet
that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
piLLai lOkAchAryar was born in srirangam to vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai by the grace of
nampiLLai (we have seen this in vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai idhihyam -
http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/vadakku-thiruveedhi-pillai/ already).
He and his younger brother azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr grew up in
srirangam like perumAL and iLaya perumAL in ayOdhya and kannan emperumAn and
nambi mUtha pirAn in gOkulam. They both were blessed to have the katAksham and
guidance of great AchAryas of our sampradhAyam like nampiLLai, periyavAchAn
piLLai, vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai, etc at the same time. They learnt our sampradhAyam
under the lotus feet of their father vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai. Also, one of the unique
quality of these two AchArya simhams is that they both took the vow of naishtika
bramhacharyam and lived by that throughout their life.
piLLai lOkAchAryar out of his boundless kAruNyam towards all the suffering jIvAthmAs
in this samsAram and also out of the order he received from periya perumAL in his
svapnam, wrote many granthams to reveal the most valuable meanings of our
sampradhAyam which was mostly done through AchAryan to sishyan on an individual
basis.
piLLai lOAchAryar became the leader of our sampradhAyam and he was teaching to his
disciples regularly in srirangam. A srivaishnava named maNappAkkathu nambi went to
dhEvaperumAL and dhEvaperumAL gives him valuable instructions on our
sampradhAyam. But dhEvaperumAL without fully completing the instructions tells nambi
to go to srirangam where he will continue to teach the same. When nambi travels to
srirangam and arrives at kAttazhagiya singhar temple, he sees the kAlakshEpa gOshti
of piLLai lOkAchAryar. Hiding behind a pillar, he starts listening to piLLai lOkAchAryar
and is amazed to hear that he is hearing the same thing and continuation of what dhEva
perumAL was teaching him. He comes out of his hiding place, falls flat at the lotus feet
of piLLai lOkAchAryar and asks “avarO nIr” (Are you dhEva perumAL?) and piLLai
lOkAchAryar replies “Avathu; yEthu?” (Yes, what to do now?). Thus we can clearly see
that piLLai lOkAchAryar is none other than dhEva perumAL himself.
piLLai lOkAchAryar has written many granthams for the ujjIvanam of mumukshus (one
who desires to get bhagavath kainkarya mOksham). He wrote 18 rahasya granthams
mainly addressing the important aspects of our sampradhAyam such as rahasya
thrayam, thathva thrayam, artha panchakam and deep sampradhAya meanings based
on thiruvAimozhi. Of those the following are considered most important:
srivaishnavas must hear these granthams as kAlakshEpam at least once in their lifetime
to fully appreciate our sampradhAyam.
Not only he did pramANa rakshaNam, he was fully involved in pramEya rakshaNam
(protecting/nourishing emperumAn). When everything was going good in srirangam,
suddenly the news of muslim invasion spread like wild fire. Everyone got very worried
since these muslim kings are well known to target temples for the abundant wealth that
are in temples. So, immediately piLLai lOkAchAryar (being the senior most srivaishnva
AchArya those times) took control of the situation. He instructed the srivaishnavas to
raise a wall in front of periya perumAL and left with namperumAL and ubhaya nAchiArs
towards south India. He was much older at that time but did not care for himself and he
travelled along with namperumAL in the journey. When they were going through the
forests, some thieves came and robbed all the jewels of namperumAL. piLLai
lOkAchAryar was going a little bit ahead and when he heard about this he came back
and the thieves being instructed by piLLai lOkAchAryar changes their mind, surrenders
to him and offers the jewels back.
After this, they reach a spot named jyOthiskudi (near madhurai – backside of Anai malai
region). piLLai lOkAchAryar due to his vayOthigam (old age) becomes ill and decides to
leave to paramapadham. He thinks about thirumalai AzhwAr (thiruvAimozhi piLLai) who
is one of his sishyas to be groomed to be the next leader of the sampradhAyam. He
asks his sishyas (especially kUra kulOthama dhAsar) to go and relieve him from his
administrative duties and reform him to be our dharisana pravarthakar. And finally he
gives up his charama thirumEni and reaches paramapadham there itself.
Thus we can understand the unbounded glories of piLLai lOkAchAryar who dedicated
his whole life for pramANa rakshaNam and pramEya rakshaNam. Any one claiming to
be a srivaishnava must have gratitude (upakAra smrithi) towards piLLai lOkAchAryar
always, because without him we would neither see namperumAL nor understand the in-
depth meanings of our emperumAnAr dharisanam.
Let us pray at the lotus feet of piLLai lOkAchAryar that we also develop such
attachment towards emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.
mAmunigaL, in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai pAsuram 47, glorifies nAyanAr and his
contributions.
Simple translation:
NanjIyar did vyAkyAnams for a few prabhandhams in aruLicheyal (even before
periyavAchAn piLLai). After periyavAchAn piLLai, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr who is filled with divine qualities and the dear brother of piLLai lOkAchAryar
wrote vyAkyAnams for some prabhandhams in aruLicheyal as well.
In the vyAkyAnam piLLai lOkam jIyar brings out the glories of nAyanAr.
For “tham chIr”, he brings out one of the important glories of nAyanAr. He
identifies that nAyanAr’s expertise in aruLicheyal is far greater than all other
His vyAkyAnams/works:
His thiruppAvai 6000 padi vyAkyAnam is very detailed and most beautiful. In the
vyAkyAnam, the essence of our sampradhAyam is beautifully presented.
Principles like emperumAn’s upAyathvam/upEyathvam, emperumAn’s
nirhEthuka krupai, pirAtti’s purushakAram, paragatha svIkAram, kainkaryathil
kaLai (virOdhi), etc are most eloquently explained by nAyanAr in his thiruppAvai
vyAkyAnam.
His amalanAdhipirAn vyAkyAnam is one of the best renderings of our
sampradhAyam. He beautifully bridges the thirumEni anubhavam of emperumAn
and the sidhAntham in his vyAkyAnam. We have already seen this as part of
thiuppANAzhwAr’s archavathAra anubhavam in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-
thiruppanazhwar.html.
His kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu vyAkyAnam beautifully reveals the glories of
panchamOpAyam (accepting AchAryan as everything) and AchArya kainkaryam.
His aruLicheyal rahasyam beautifully explains rahasya thrayam – thirumanthram,
dhvayam and charamaslOkam through words from aruLicheyal. This is one of
the most classic works which will be fully relished by experts of aruLicheyal.
Finally, AchArya hrudhayam, his master piece, brings out the true emotions of
NammAzhwAr and his thiruvAimozhi dhivya prabhandham. This grantham
explains the principles that are presented in srivachana bhUshaNa dhivya
sAsthram (that was written by piLLai lOkAchAryar) in further detail. We have
already seen the archAvathAra anubhavam of nAyanAr through AchArya
hrudhayam in http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/11/archavathara-anubhavam-
nayanar-anubhavam.html.
To understand some one’s greatness, one has to see the words of other great
personalities on that person. nAyanAr decided to leave his thirumEni at an early age
and ascended to paramapadham leaving behind piLLai lOkAchAryar. piLLai
Simple translation:
After nAyanAr ascending to paramapadham with all glories, who is present here to
explain the rahasya thrayam – thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam (where
emperumAn touched his heart and said “mAm” – I am the protector).
Let us pray at the lotus feet of azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr that we also
develop such attachment towards emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.
sishyas: vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar, srI rangAchAryar, parakAla dhAsar,
etc
nAyanAr AchAn piLLai is the adopted son of periyavAchAn piLLai. He was named as
azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr (sundhara vara rAjAchAryar). He was also
identified as saumyavarEswarar by parakAla dhAsar in his work parakAla nallAn
rahasyam. He was also known as “srI rangarAja dhIkshithar” and identified to be a very
scholarly personality. He wrote many granthams establishing sath sampradhAya
principles in a very authoritative way. He lived along the likes of piLLai lOkAchAryar and
azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr.
His works bring out the core essence of our sampradhAyam. He wrote charamOpAya
nirNayam which highlights the true glories of emperumAnAr and his special position in
our sampradhAyam. In his chatu: slOki vyAkyAnam, he has given a detail account of
the nature of periya pirAttiyAr very clearly.
Though vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar, srI rangAchAryar, parakAla dhAsar are
sishyas of periyavAchAn piLLai, they learn bhagavath vishayam, etc from
nAyanArAchAn piLLai.
sruthyarthasArajanakam smruthibAlamithram
padhmOllasadh bhagavadhangri purANabhandhum
gyAnAdhirAjam abhayapradharAja sUnum
asmath gurum paramakAruNikam namAmi
He was named varadharAjar by his parents while he was born. He becomes a sishya of
periyavAchAn piLLai at a young age and starts serving him at his thirumadappaLLi
(kitchen). Once when he was about 32 years old, he observes a few vidhwAns
discussing philosophy. Out of curiosity, he goes and asks them what they are
discussing about. Those vidhwAns, knowing that varadharAjar is not knowledgable in
basics, sarcastically say that they are discussing musalakisalayam (a non-existing
grantham). They also chastise him saying that he does not understand any sAsthram
since he was illiterate. varadharAjar goes to periyavAchAn piLLai and explain this
incident. periyavAchAn piLLai says “since you are illiterate, they chastised you”. Being
ashamed of himself, varadharAjar prays to periyavAchAn piLLai to teach him sAsthram.
periyavAchAn piLLai, being most merciful, at once initiates him in to sAsthram and
starts teaching him kAvya, nAtaka, alankAra, shabdha, tharkka, pUrva mimAmsa,
uththara mImAmsa, etc. Within a short time frame, by the mercy of his AchAryan,
varadharAjar becomes a great expert in sAsthram and writes a grantham named
“musalakisalayam” and gives that back to the vidhwAns who chastised him to be
illiterate before. He learns bhagavath vishayam, etc from nAyanArAchAn piLLai. His life
is a perfect example of how AchArya katAksham can bring one up to great heights.
Soon, he develops total detachment and accepts sannyAsa Ashramam and accepts the
name azhagiya maNavALa jIyar (sundhara jAmAthru muni). He also defeats many
scholars of other philosophies through debates and gets the title “vAdhi kEsari” (lion
among debators).
He writes many granthams which are of great value in our samrpadhAyam. He writes
word-by-word meaning for thiruvAimozhi named 12000 padi (similar in size to srI
bhAgavatham which has 12000 slOkams). This is a great work – in all other
vyAkyAnams of thiruvAimozhi the overall flow of the pAsuram and the divine emotions
of nammAzhwAr is explained. But no other vyAkyAnam, explains the word-by-word
meaning which is very essential to understand the pAsurams in a crystal clear manner.
His other notable grantham is the thamizh pAsuram for each slOkam in gIthai. He
explains the principles explained in gIthai slOkams in simple thamizh pAsuram. He has
also done a number of rahasya granthams.
Simple translation: With great love, azhagiya maNavALa jIyar explained the (word-by-
word) meanings of thiruvAimozhi in his 12000 padi which is pure (blemishless) using his
great intellect, so that every one can speak about thiruvAimozhi in the future.
Also known as kUra kulOthama nAyan, he was born in srirangam and was living there.
When thirumalai AzhwAr returned to his palace and explained the incident to his step-
mother who was guiding him, she reminded his relationship with piLLai lOkAchAryar
and glorified kUra kulOthama dhAsar. He started to look for kUra kulOthama dhAsar
again.
Once, when thirumalai AzhwAr was going on an elephant, kUra kulOthama dhAsar,
climbed on a high place so he is visible to him. thirumalai AzhwAr noticed him and
immediately stepped down from his elephant and fell flat on the lotus feet of kUra
kulOthama dhAsar and started glorifying him. He then brought kUra kulOthama dhAsar
to his palace and learnt all the valuable instructions of piLLai lOkAchAryar briefly from
him. Being purified by those instructions, he requested kUra kulOthama dhAsar to visit
him every day during this morning anushtAnam and teach all the sampradhAya
vishayam since he is busy otherwise. He also arranges a residence for kUra kulOthama
dhAsar along the banks of vaigai river, provides all necessary items (provisions, etc) for
his livelihUd.
kUra kulOthama dhAsar starts visiting thirumalai AzhwAr every day. He notices
thirumalai AzhwAr reciting piLLai lOkAchAryar‘s thanian while applying thirumaN kAppu
(we are suppose to recite the guru paramparai thanians while applying thirumaN kAppu)
and becomes very pleased. He starts teaching all the meanings but one fine morning he
does not arrive. When thirumalai AzhwAr sends his servants to kUra kulOthama
dhAsar, there is no response. So, he himself goes directly with great attachment to his
AchAryan and kUra kulOthama dhAsar makes him wait for some time. Finally he goes
and falls flat at the lotus feet of kUra kulOthama dhAsar and asks for forgiveness for any
mistakes he committed. Since he arrived during kAlakshEpam time, he also attends the
same and accepts sripAdha thIrtham and sEsha prasAdham of kUra kulOthama
dhAsar. The sEsha prasAdham of bhagavath adiyArs have great ability to purify any
one and it brought in a great change in thirumalai AzhwAr also. After consuming it,
thirumalai Azhwar started saying “kUra kulOthama dhAsa nAyan thiruvadigaLE
sharaNam” repeatedly and showed great detachment to the kingdom and worldly
affairs.
Let us remember kUra kulOthama dhAsar who always remembers piLLai lOkAchAryar.
He was born in EEzhava kulam. Due to his kulam he was not able to go inside the
temple, so he used to climb ‘viLam’ trees in his village to get darshan of the gOpuram of
thiruvanandhapuram anantha padmanABhan temple, and do mangaLasAsanam.
3 4 4 3
S
3 2 4
3 3 2 2 2
3 2 3 3
3 4
3 4 3 4 4 3 2 4
viLanchOlai piLLai learned EEdu, sri bhAshyam, etc., thathvathrayam and other
rahasya granthams, etc., from sri azhagiya maNavALa pErumAL nAyanArAcharyar,
who is the younger brother of sri piLLai lOkachariar.
He learned srI vachana bhUshaNam from his AchAryan sri piLLai lOkAchariar, and was
considered an expert in its meanings (adhikAri).
sri viLAnchOlai piLLai wrote ‘saptha gAThai’, which gives us the essence of his
Acharyan’s sri vachana bhUshaNam.
Note: mUlam for saptha gAThai is available in Sanskrit, English, and Thamizh at:
http://acharya.org/sloka/vspillai/index.html
One of the biggest kainkaryams he did to his AchAryan is to follow his AchAryan’s
instructions which was given during his Acharyan’s charama dhasai - sri piLLai
lOkAchAriar wanted his sishyAs to reach out to thiruvoimOzhi piLLai (then thirumalai
AzhvAr) and prepare him to be the next AchAryar in this golden lineage; Sri
When he found his place and reached there he was in for a big surprise! viLanchOlai
piLLai was in yOga meditating on his AchAryan piLLai lOkAchAriar’s thirumEni, and
about the greatness of all his sishyAs and their whole presence in thiruvarangam during
those days.
thiruvAimOzhi piLLai fell on his feet and stood silently in front of him. viLanchOlai piLLai
immediately opened his eyes and his grace fell on thiruvAimOzhi piLLAi. He was happy
to see the sishyA that he has been waiting for.
This was a prime example for ‘kodumin koNmin’ as said by thONdaradi podi AzhVar –
viLanchOlai piLLai of EEzha kulam gave, and thiruvAimOzhi piLLai of brahmin kulam
received, the essence of sri vaishNavam.
After some time, thiruvAimOzhi piLLai took leave from viLAnchOlai piLLai, and went on
to become a dharsana pravarthakar of srI rAmAnuja dharisanam.
When namboodhiris saw this, according to the custom of the time, did not want to be in
the sanctum sanctorum due to the cast of viLanchOlai piLLai and so they closed the
doors of the sannidhi, and started to go out of the temple.
At the same time, some of the local sishyas of viLanchOlai piLLai approached the
temple and announced that their AchAryan viLAnchOlai piLLAi has reached the
thiruvadi of his AchAryar piLLai lOkachariar!! And they wanted ‘thiru pariyattam, and
flower garlands’ from perumAn, for the charama thirumEni of viLAnchOlai piLLai!! They
stood near the temple entrance and were reciting irAmanusa nUtrandhAdhi iyal etc.
When namboodhris saw this, they were surprized about the happenings earlier near the
sanctum sanctOrum and informed about this to every one!
Like how thiruppANAzhvAr reached the thiruvadi of pEriya pErumAL in pEriya kOil, here
viLAnchOlai piLLai had reached the thiruvadi of anantha padmanAbhan!
thiruvAimOzhi piLLai after hearing this news, did all charama kainkaryams that sishyas
would do for their AchAryan, and did thiruvadhyayanam too in a complete manner.
Reminds us of pEriya nambi’s kainkaryam to mAranEri nambi.
Following was given by the sishyas who celebrated the greatness of thiruvAimozhi
piLLAi having sishya bhAvam towards viLAnchOlai piLLai.
Sources:
thirumalai AzhwAr had his pancha samskAram done at a young age at the lotus feet of
piLLai lOkAchAryar. He was a great scholar in tamizh and also a great administrator. He
drifted off from the sampradhAyam and became the chief advisor of the madhurai
kingdom as the king died at an early age leaving behind his young sons at the care of
thirumalai AzhwAr. piLLai lOkAchAryar during his final days, had his divine mercy on
thirumalai AzhwAr and instructed kUra kulOthama dhAsar and other sishyas to reform
thirumalai AzhwAr and make him the leader of our sampradhAyam. kUra kulOthama
dhAsar then ventured out to meet thirumalai AzhwAr to reform him.
During this time (little after when the muslim invasion happens), nammAzhwAr travels
from AzhwAr thirunagari and stays with namperumAL in kOzhikOde for some time. But
when namperumAL leaves from there, due to some internal disagreements between the
local people, AzhwAr does not travel with him. At that time, AzhwAr is taken to the south
west region into the mountaneous areas and fearing for thieves and robbers he was
placed in a box and kept under a cliff for safety. After some time, a srivaishnava named
thOzhappar who was very attached to nammAzhwAr, comes to thirumalai AzhwAr,
requests for a bunch of soldiers for protection to go and rescue nammAzhwAr.
thirumalai AzhwAr gladly arranges the same and thOzhappar guides the soldiers to the
cliff. When everyone was scared to go down the cliff thOzhappar volunteers to go down.
At that time, the srivaishnavas from AzhwArthirungari appreciates thOzhappar and tells
him that from that day onwards he will get special mariyAdhai/prasAdham from AzhwAr
for his efforts. He goes down in a winch kind of arrangement, places nammAzhwAr
safely and sends him up. When the second time the winch was sent down to bring
thOzhappar he some how slips and falls down the cliff and attains paramapadham
immediately. nammAzhwAr immediately pacifies thOzhappar’s son and says to him that
he himself will be the father of thOzhappar’s son. Thus thOzhappar’s efforts (with the
help of thirumalai AzhwAr) help bring nammAzhwAr back to thirukkaNAmbi where he
stays from then onwards.
On to thirumalai AzhwAr now. Once when thirumalai AzhwAr is doing his routine rounds
in his palanquin, he comes across kUra kulOthama dhAsar who was reciting AzhwAr’s
thiruvirutham. Since thirumalai AzhwAr had the blessings of piLLai lOkAchAryar, he was
able to immediately understand the greatness of dhAsar and stepped down from his
palanquin and requested dhAsar to teach him the meanings of thiruvirutham. But
nAlUr AchAn piLLai (also known as dhEvarAjar) starts teaching him the meanings and
hearing about these incidents thirunArAyaNapurathu Ayi, thirunArAyaNapurathu piLLai
and others request nAlUr AchAn piLLai and thirumalai AzhwAr to come and live at
thirunArAyaNa puram and continue the kAlakshEpam there so they can also learn this
in detail. They accept the invitation and reach thirunArAyaNa puram, performs
mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAnAr, yathugiri nAchiAr, selva piLLai and thirunAraNan
and performs the kAlakshEpam fully there. There thirumalai AzhwAr learns eedu in full
depth and being pleased with him and his service attitude, nAlUr AchAn piLLai presents
his thiruvArAdhana perumAL (inavAyar thalaivan) to thirumalai AzhwAr. Thus eedu
36000 padi gets propagated from nAlUr AchAn piLLai through 3 great scholars –
thirumalai AzhwAr, thirunArAyanapurathu Ayi and thirunArAyanapurathu piLLai.
Towards the end of his life, thiruvAimozhi piLLai, starts worrying about a successor to
carry our sampradhAyam after his time. At that time, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr vows that he will take up that responsibility and fulfill his desires. Very pleased
with that, thiruvAimozhi piLLai instructs him that he should learn sribhAshyam once but
focus fully on thiruvAimozhi and its vyAkyAnams for the rest of his life with the mind
fixed on doing mangaLAsAsanam to periya perumAL at srirangam. thiruvAimozhi piLLai
tells his sishyas that they should have great respect towards azhagiya maNavALa
perumAL nAyanAr and consider him to be a special avathAram. After that, mediating on
piLLai lOkAchAryar’s thiruvadi, thiruvAimozhi piLLai gives up his charama thirumEni
and reaches paramapadham. azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr and other
sishyas perform the charama kainkaryams in a grand manner.
Like emperumAnAr who took shelter of periya nambi (parAngusa dhAsar), azhagiya
maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr took shelter of thiruvAimozhi piLLai (satagOpa dhAsar).
It is by his efforts we see AzhwAr thirunagari in its current shape with AthinAthar
AzhwAr temple and bhavishyadhAchAryan (emperumAnAr) temple. He dedicated his
life for nammAzhwAr and thiruvAimozhi, he went to so many places to gather all the
instructions from many AchAryas according to the instructions of piLLai lOkAchAryar
and finally gave all of them to azhagiya maNavALA perumAL nAyanAr who will soon
become azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL. Also, It is by the efforts of thiruvAimozhi
piLLai we have received the eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam which was propagated to
great heights by azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL subsequently.
[One who is like a lion to any opposing pundits and debaters, one who possesses
wonderful wealth (of gyAnam, bHakthi, vairAgyam, and more), and whose thiru nAmam
is ‘vEnkatanathan’, such Sri vEdhAnthAchAryar shall always live in my heart.]
Thiru avathAram
Name at birth vEnkatanAthan
He got the name ‘vEdhAnthAchAriar’ from Sri ranganAthan, and the name
‘kavithArkika kEsari’ and ‘sarvathanthra swathanthrar’ by Sri ranga nAchiar.
KidAmbi AchAn’s grandson kidAmbi appuLLAr is one of the sishyas of Sri NadAdhUr
ammAL.
Sri kidAmbi appuLAr’s nephew and sishyar is the world famous Sri VedhAnthachAriar.
When vEdAnthAchAriar was young he went with his maternal uncle (Sri kidAmbi
appuLAr) to attend Sri nadAdhUr ammAL’s kAlakshEpa goshti. vEdAnthAchAriar refers
to this and says that Sri nadAdhUr ammAL had blessed him at that time that he will
establish well and clear all the oppositions of vishishtAdhvaitha Srivaishnava
sidhAntham.
Granthams
Sri vEdhandhachAriar has written more than a hundred granthams, and they are in
Sanskrit, Tamil, and maNipravALam (mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil).
The content so far in this article is mostly based on a malar published by Puthur Swami.
0 The devotion of PrativAthi bhayankaram aNNa and his sishyas and descendents
for vEdAnthAchAriar is well known. The descendents living in ThiruvindhaLUr and other
southern centres even bear the name of vEdanthAchAriar’s son referred to as
‘nAyinAchAriar’, thus extending their devotion down to his son.
() Sri vEdanthAchAriar too, had a deep love and regard to purvAchAryas and
contemporary achAryAs, as evidenced in his ‘abhithistavam’, “Kvachana rangamukyE
vibhO! paraspara-hithaishiNAm parisarEshu mAm varthaya” , (O Lord!, let me reside in
Srirangam at the feet of the great ones who are mutual well-wishers)2.
() “In the last verse of his ‘bhagavad-dhyAna sOpanam’, Sri vEdAnthAchAriar pays a
glowing tribute to the erudite scholars and art-lovers of Srirangam, who imparted clarity
in his thoughts and enabled him to develop a facile and pleasing style”. 2
These go to show that vEdanthAchAriar and other scholars held mutual respect, love,
and reverence for each other, and paved ways for harmonious discussions on our
srivaishnava sampradhAyam.
AchArya-champu
This work starts in first Stabaka (Chapter, or Section) with a benediction, then speaks
about author’s family, about the city of Kancheepuram, and about Sri Pundarika Yajwa,
grandfather of VEdAnthAchAriar.
The second Stabaka deals with the birth and marriage of Ananta-Suri (Sri Desika’s
father) and the entry of divine Bell into his wife’s womb.
The third Stabaka describes the birth of VEdAnthAchAriar, his childhood, his
accompanying his maternal uncle to Sri Vatsya Varadacharya’s school, and securing
the latter’s blessings, getting the sacred thread, initiation to the study of literature,
vedhas, and more; marriage, winning the grace of Lord HayagrIva, composition of
various works including ‘nyAya sidhdhAnjana’, and gaining the title of Kavitarkikasimha.
The fourth Stabaka describes the Uthsavam at Kanchi, the composition of ‘VaradarAja
panchAsat’ by VEdAnthAchAriar, his encounter with Advaitha scholar named
Vidyaranya and winning him; and pilgrimage to vEnkatAdri.
The fifth Stabaka provides details of the pilgrimage, his composing ‘dayAsatakA’, and
his ‘Vairagya-panchaka’ as a scoring-of-the-riches reply to an invitation to royal court by
—————
Sources:
When he was born, He was named dhEvarAjar by his parents. He is also known as
dhEva perumAL, AsUri dhEvarAyar, thiruththAzhvarai dhAsar, srIsAnu dhAsar, mAthru
guru, dhEvarAja munIndhrar and jananyAchAryar.
Ay means Mother. He was performing the kainkaryam of preparing and offering milk to
thirunAraNan emperumAn. Once when he was late for his kainkaryam, emperumAn
asked “Where is my Ay (mother)?” revering Ay’s motherly affection towards him. From
that time onwards, he was famously called as Ay or jananyAchAryar. This is very similar
to nadAthUr ammAL‘s relationship with dhEva perumAL.
mAmunigaL starts writing a vyAkyAnam for AchArya hrudhayam. While writing the
vyAkyAnam for 22nd chUrNikai, mAmunigaL wants to have some clarification. He
decides to discuss the particular chUrNikai with Ay jananyAchAryar who is
thiruvAimozhi piLLai‘s saha adhyAyi (classmate) since mAmunigaL considers Ay as his
AchAryan as well. mAmunigaL requests permission from nammAzhwAr to go to
thirunArAyaNapuram and leaves AzhwAr thirunagari. About the same time, hearing
about mAmunigaL’s glories and great fame, Ay jananyAchAryar leaves
thirunArAyaNapuram and approaches AzhwAr thirunagari. They both meet outside
AzhwAr thirunagari and offer obeisances to each other and embrace each other with
great joy. mAmunigaL‘s sishyas consider the meeting of these great souls as the same
as the meeting of periya nambi and emperumAnAr and become ecstatic seeing the
mutual reverence between each other. They both return to AzhwAr thirunagari and
mAmunigaL hears AchArya hrudhayam kAlakshEpam from Ay fully once. At the end of
the lecture series, mAmunigaL renders a beautiful thanian for Ay and submits the same
to him. Ay, considering himself not qualified for that, in response, offers the following
beautiful thamizh pAsuram glorifying mAmunigaL.
?
?
?
?
Simple translation:
Is he emperumAnAr who appeared in srIperumbUthUr and is the most virtuous?
Is he nammAzhwAr who adorns the maghizham garland?
Is he kaNNan himself who went as a messenger for the sake of pANdavas –
manifesting saulabhyam (easy accessibility)?
Who is mAmunigaL among the above three who show fatherly affection towards me?
Thus Ay spent some time in AzhwAr thirungari and finally returned to thirunArAyaNa
puram. But in his absence, some people who were jealous of him, declared that he
attained parampadham (since he did not return for a long time) and annexed all his
wealth to the temple’s control. Seeing this, Ay becomes very happy and says
“bhagavAn says that he takes away the wealth of ones who are dear to him, so this is a
great blessing” and leads a simple life. He requests his thiruvArAdhana perumAL
vigraham (gyAna pirAn) which was given to him by his AchAryan and continues his
kainkaryam. Subsequently, he accepts sannyAsa Ashramam and finally he leaves to
paramapadham to eternally serve emperumAn in parampadham.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of thirunArAyaNapurathu Ay. He
was a great scholar and was very dear to his AchAryan and maNavALa mAmunigaL.
Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
: :
Sishyas: ashta dhik gajangaL – ponnadikkAl jIyar, kOil aNNan, pathangi paravasthu
pattarpirAn jIyar, thiruvEnkata jIyar, eRumbiappA, prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan,
appiLLai, appiLLAr. nava rathnangaL – sEnai muthaliAndAn nAyanAr, satagOpa
dhAsar (nAlUr siRRAththAn), kanthAdai pOrERRu nAyan, yEttUr singarAchAryar,
kanthAdai aNNappan, kanthAdai thirukkOpurathu nAyanAr, kanthAdai nAraNappai,
kanthAdai thOzhapparappai, kanthAdai azhaiththu vAzhviththa perumAL. He had many
other sishyas from various thiruvamsams, thirumALigais and dhivya dhEsams.
He learns all the sAmAnya sAsthram and does vEdha adhyayanam under his
father’s guidance in his mother’s place sikkil kidAram. He also gets married in
due course.
Hearing about thiruvAimozhi piLLai’s vaibhavam, he returns to AzhwAr
thirunagari and surrenders to him. We have already seen this in the previous
article.
His wife gives birth to a son and he requests thiruvAimozhi piLLai to give a
suitable name. thiruvAimozhi piLLai says rAmAnujan is repeated 108 times (in
rAmAnuja nURRanthAdhi), so that must be the best. Based on that he names his
son “emmaiyan irAmAnusan”.
After thiruvAimozhi piLLai attaining paramapadham, he becomes the dharisana
pravarthakar.
He becomes an expert in aruLicheyal especially thiuvAimozhi and eedu 36000
padi vyAkyAnam. He also starts collecting all the supporting pramANams for
eedu vyAkyAnam and documents them.
mAmunigaL – kAnchipuram
Once two srivaishnavas are having some misunderstanding with each other. At
that time when two dogs are fighting in the street in the presence of those two
srivaishnavas – he looks at the dogs and asks the dogs “Have you also learnt
srivachana bhUshaNam, etc like these two srivaishnavas to have so much
ahankAram?”. Immediately they realize their mistake and become pure after that.
When some one from vada dhEsam submits some wealth and when he
understands that the wealth was not properly earned, he immediately sends that
out. He shows no interest in material wealth, etc. Even when it comes to
kainkaryam he ensures that he get money/material that are connected to
srivaishnavas only.
Once when an old lady comes to his mutt and requests him to stay there for the
night. He insists to her that she cant stay in the mutt – he says “even an old
squirrel can climb a tree” meaning even when an old lady stays in the mutt, some
one may find a fault in mAmunigaL’s vairAgyam. So completely avoids anything
which could cause doubt in anyone’s mind.
Once when a srivaishnava ammaiyAr is helping in cutting vegetables, etc., she is
not doing it with proper bhakthi bhAvam – so mAmunigaL asks her to stay away
for 6 months as punishment as he wants the kainkarayaparars to be 100%
staying in bhagavath/bhAgavatha nishtai.
Once when one srivaishnava named “varam tharum piLLai” comes to
mAmunigaL alone, he says srivaishnavas should never go to emperumAn or
AchAryan alone and we should always go with other srivaishnavas.
He reveals many times the cruel nature of doing bhAgavatha apachAram and
always ensures srivaishnavas develop mutual respect for each other.
When one bhattar (archakar) in the temple complains to mAmunigaL that his
sishyas are not respecting him properly, he insists that they should always offer
proper respect to him thinking that perumAL and pirAtti are present in him
always.
When one wealthy srivaishnava from vada nAttu dhivya dhEsam comes and
asks him about srivaishnava lakshaNam, mAmunigaL gives him a detailed
explanation as follows. For a real srivaishnava:
o It is not sufficient to just to go and take shelter of emperumAn.
o it is not sufficient to just accept sambhandham of emperumAn thru
shanka/chakra lAnchanam.
o It is not sufficient to just do thiruvArAdhanam to emperumAn.
Hearing these instructions that srivaishnava become very much devoted to mAmunigaL
and was constantly thinking about him and worshipping him even after returning to his
native place.
It is easy to speak about and summarize any AchArya’s vaibhavam but mAmunigaL’s
vaibhavam is unlimited. Even he himself with his thousand tongues (as AdhisEshan)
cannot speak his glories, so how can we do that to our full satisfaction. We just have to
satisfy ourselves saying that some how we benefited immensely by speaking (and
reading) about him today.
He was accepted by periya perumAL as his own AchAryan and completes the
AchArya rathna hAram and the OrAN vazhi guru paramparai.
periya perumAL being his sishya, offers his own sEsha paryankam to
mAmunigaL which we can observe even today – except mAmunigaL no other
AzhwAr/AchAryan has sEsha paryankam/pItam.
periya perumAL being his AchAryan, composes a thanian, offers it to
mAmunigaL and instructs that this thanian should be chanted in the beginning
mAmunigaL’s thanian
Simple translation: I (sri ranganAthan) worship maNavALa mAmunigaL who is the target
of thiruvAimozhi piLLai’s dhayai, who is an ocean of jnAnam, bhakthi, vairAgyam, etc
and who has great attachment towards emperumAnAr.
With this we have completed the OrAN vazhi AchArya paramparai. It is said that we
should end everything in a sweet manner. That is why our OrAN vazhi paramparai also
ends with mAmunigaL and his charithram are sweeter than anything else in both the
worlds (nithya vibhUthi and leelA vibhUthi).
Let us understand the glories of ponnadikkAl jIyar who is the thiruvadi nilai of
mAmunigaL and was considered by mAmunigAL as his life breath and well wisher. So,
let us enjoy ponnadikkAl jIyar vaibhavam in the next article.
azhagiya varadhar became the first disciple of azhagiya maNavALa mAumingaL when
mAmunigaL was a gruhasthar. azhagiya varadhar immediately accepted
When mAmunigaL goes for thiumalai yAthrai for the first time, periya kELvi appan jIyar
sees a dream, where a gruhasthar is lying down and a sannyAsi is at his lotus feet. jIyar
asks the people who are there about these two personalities and they say one is “eettu
perukkar” azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr and the other is ponnadikkAl jIyar as
called by nAyanAr himself.
After kandhAdai aNNan and his relatives become shishyas of mAmunigaL, mAmunigaL
says ponnadikkAl jIyar is his prANa sukruth and he should get all the glories which
mAmunigaL himself has. Looking at appAchiAraNNA who approached mAmunigaL to
become his sishya, mAmunigaL called for ponnadikkAl jIyar, seated him in his own
Asanam, gave him his own shankam and chakram and instructed ponnadikkAl jIyar to
do samAshrayaNam for appAchiArANNA. ponnadikkAl jIyar, initially refuses out of
humility, but seeing mAmunigaL’s determination, he accepts and performs
samAshrayaNam to appAchiAraNNA and a few others at that time. mAmunigaL also
appoints an ashta dig gajangaL (just like he had eight prime sishyas) to ponndikkAl jIyar
as well namely – chOlasimharpuram mahAryar (dhoddAchAryar),
samarabhungavAchAryar, sudhdha saththvam aNNA, jnAnakkaNNAththAn, rAmAnujam
piLLai, paLLakkAl sidhdhar, gOshti puraththaiyar and appAchiArANNA.
ponnadikkAl jIyar then goes on a lengthy yAthrai to all northern dhivyadhEsams. In the
mean time mAmunigaL finishes his leelai in samsAram and leaves to paramapadham.
While returning from his yAthrai, after reaching thirumalai he hears about the
mAmunigaL’s decision to go to paramapadham and out of great sorrow stays some time
in thirumalai. He brings all the wealth accumulated during his yAthrai to srirangam,
meets with jIyar nAyanAr (grand son of mAmunigaL in his pUrvAshramam) and all the
other srivaishnavas and share the grief of his separation from his AchAryan. At that
time, according to the orders of mAmunigaL, mAmunigaL’s upadhaNdam (extra
dhaNdam), ring (thirvAzhi mOdhiram) and pAdhukAs are given to ponnadikkAl jIyar.
Even today this upadhaNdam is tied to the vAnamAmalai jIyars’ thridhaNdam. Also,
even today vAnamAmalai jIyars wear mAmunigaL’s ring on special occasions. He then
returns to vAnamAmalai and continues his kainkaryam there.
After living for many years giving valuable instructions to every one, ponnadikkAl jIyar
gives up his charama thirumEni meditating on his Acharyan azhagiya maNavALa
Let us pray at the lotus feet of ponnadikkAl jIyar that we also develop such attachment
towards emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.
For 30 years (in his pUrvAshramam), he ate the sEsha prasAdham (remnants) of
mAmunigaL. He is famously known as "mOr munnAr ayyar" (the respected one who
consumed curd rice first). In a traditional meal, we would first eat rice with dhAl,
vegetables, etc. In the end will finish with curd rice. pattarpirAn jIyar, consumes his
prasAdham on the same banana leaf on which mAmunigaL eats. As mAmunigaL
finishes with curd rice and since gOvindhadhAsarappan wants to consume prasAdham
without changing the taste (from curd to dhAl), he first consumes curd rice everyday.
Thus, he becomes to be known popularly as "mOr munnAr ayyar".
During the final days of mAmunigaL, aNNarAya chakkaravarthi (who comes in the
lineage of thirumalai nallAn chakkaravarthi) visits srIrangam from thirumalai. After his
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar.
He was a great scholar and was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet
that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
sishyas: kandhAdai nAyan (his own son), kandhAdai rAmAnuja aiyangAr, etc.
At that time, kOil aNNan notices a srIvaishNava coming from periya jIyar‘s
(mAmunigaL) mutt. aNNan enquires the wherabouts and the purpose of his visit. The
srIvaishNava mentions that his name is singaraiyyar he is from vaLLuva rAjEndhram
(near by village) and he has come to become the disciple of mAmunigaL but his desire
is yet not fulfilled. aNNan says to him that there are many AchAryas in srIrangam and
he can become a sishya of any one. The srIvaishNava replies that it is per the order of
bhagavAn himself that he becomes a sishya of mAmunigaL. aNNan becomes
astonished and wants to know more, but singaraiyyar says its confidential and wont
reveal the details yet. aNNan invites him inside to accept prasAdham and thAmbUlam
and asks him to rest there for the night. In the night when aNNan and his brothers were
lying outside, AychiyAr who is inside the house, lies down to go to sleep. She says “jIyar
thiruvadigaLE charaNam, piLLai thiruvadigaLE charaNam, vAzhi ulagAsiriyan”
(salutations to mAmunigaL, thiruvAimozhi piLLai and piLLai lOkAchAryar). aNNan and
aNNan becomes reverential towards mAmunigaL and could not sleep. He goes back to
singaraiyyar and enquires in the night. singariyyar explains a long incident – I
periodically collect vegetables, etc from my village and submit them to the
mutts/thirumALigais of AchAryas. Once, a srIvaishNava instructed me to submit this
to periya jIyar mutt. I considered it a great fortune and went to jIyar mutt with the
vegetables. jIyar asked me many questions such as where did these grow?, who
watered them?, etc. I humbly replied to him that these were grown in pure lands and
were nurtured by his sishyas only. periya jIyar became happy hearing that and accepted
the vegetables. He also instructed me to go to periya perumAL and worship him before
leaving. The archakar (priest) enquired me about the vegetables and to whom I offered
them this time. I replied to him that they were submitted to periya jIyar mutt. The
archakar became very happy hearing that and told me that I am most fortunate and I am
going to get great AchArya sambandham. He also blessed me and gave thIrtham
(charaNamritham – holy water), srI satagOpam, garland, abhaya hastham, etc and I felt
very blessed. I returned to jIyar mutt and informed periya jIyar that periya perumAL
greatly blessed me by your grace and informed him that I am returning. The
kainkaryaparars (servitors) in the mutt gave me some prasAdham and I had it on my
way and that purified my consciousness greatly. In the night I saw a dream. I was in
periya perumAL‘s sannidhi. periya perumAL pointed towards Adhi sEshan and told me
“azhagiya maNavALa jIyar is the same as Adhi sEsha. You become his sishya”. From
that time onwards, I am waiting to become the sishya of mAmunigaL. Hearing these
incidents, aNNan starts deep contemplation and goes to sleep.
aNNan sees a dream during his sleep. A srIvaishNava steps down from upstairs with a
whip on his hand and starts giving lashes to aNNan. aNNan, even though had the
power to stop him, does not do so and understands that the srIvaishNava is punishing
him for his wrong-doings. The whip broke after a while and the srIvaishNava pulls
aNNan by his hand. aNNan asks what to do and the srIvaishNava instructs aNNan to go
upstairs. Both aNNan and the srIvaishNava climbs up. There he observed a sannyAsi
who looked very angry and he too started giving lashes to aNNan and finally that whip
breaks too. The srIvaishNava prays to the sannyAsi and tells him “He is a small boy and
does not know what he is doing, please stop the beatings and bless him now”. The
sannyAsi then takes aNNan and keeps him on his lap and affectionately speaks to him.
He says “Both you and uththama nambi committed offenses”. aNNan replies “I did not
truly understand the glories of azhagiya maNavALa jIyar and became confused –
please forgive me now”. The sannyAsi replies affectionately “I am bhAshyakArar (srI
rAmAnuja) and this srIvaishNava is mudhaliyANdAn (your ancestor). You reform
yourself and dont misuse the relationship with mudhaliyANdAn. I am Adhi sEshan and
have come again as maNavALa mAmunigaL. You and your relatives become the
He then returns to this residence and invites uththama nambi and many other
kandhAdai family members (descendants of mudhaliyANdAn). Many arrive at his
residence and they are all surprised to hear that every one saw the same dream. They
all go to embA who is the grandson of a famous AchArya lakshmaNAchAryar. embA
becomes angry hearing about the dream and tells them that it is not befitting for their
family background to go an take shelter of another jIyar. A few others also same the
same and does not want to take shelter of periya jIyar.
aNNan along with many other kandhAdai family AchArya purushas go to jIyar mutt to
take shelter of mAmunigaL. aNNan takes the help of his own sishya thiruvAzhiyAzhwAr
and mAmunigaL’s dear sishya sudhdha saththvam aNNan to approach mAmunigaL.
sudhdha sathvam aNNan used to often explain the glories of mAmunigaL to kOil
aNNan. So, kOil aNNan takes the help of him to approach mAmunigaL. kOil aNNan
then goes to mAmunigaL’s mutt along with many of his family members. mAmunigaL is
giving a lecture at thirumalai AzhwAr maNdapam. aNNan, not wanting to disturb
mAmunigaL, informs AychiyAr about their arrival and AychiyAr sends a srIvaishNava
inside to let mAmunigaL know about their arrival at the right time. That srIvaishNava
misunderstands the intentions of kOil aNNan and his family members and informs to
mAmunigaL in the wrong sense (as if they are coming for a debate/argument or
something). mAmunigaL, not wanting to cause any confusion, leaves to the backside of
the mutt. In the mean time, aNNan and his relatives approach vAnamAmalai jIyar and
offers their respects to him. AychiyAr following the srIvaishNavar to find out what
happened explains the intentions of kOil aNNan to mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL then
chastises the srIvaishNavar and welcomes kOil aNNan and his relatives with great
respect. kOil aNNan and his relatives fall at his lotus feet, offers prayers and
glorifications to periya jIyar and offers fruits, etc. mAmunigaL gives a short lecture on
thiruppallANdu and poliga poliga padhigam (decade) in thiruvAimozhi briefly. aNNan
requests mAmunigaL through ponnadikkAl jIyar to acknowledge them and accept them
all as his disciples. mAmunigaL at once goes inside to a private place and invites
aNNan inside through ponnadikkAl jIyar. mAmuniaL asks aNNan “You already belong to
vAdhula clan (of mudhaliyANdAn) which is already well established and an AchArya
purusha family. Why is this (becoming my sishya) required?”. aNNan insists that he
needs to be accepted, asking forgiveness for his previous state of not giving proper
respect to mAmunigaL and explaining the divine dreams. mAmunigaL accepts the
request and tells aNNan that there are few other fortunate souls who would be directed
emperumAn appears in the dreams of many others and breaking the shackles of archA
samAdhi (his own vow of “not interacting” with anyone in archAvathAram/deity form)
instructs that mAmunigaL is non-different from bhagavAn himself and everyone should
take shelter of his lotus feet to be uplifted.
After 3 days, everyone assembles at periya jIyar mutt. aNNan, without any pride about
his family heritage and fully wanting to become surrendered to mAmunigaL, goes to
mAmunigaL and requests him to perform pancha samskAram to everyone. mAmunigaL
instructs vAnamAmalai (ponnadikkAl) jIyar to prepare the necessary aspects and
performs pancha samskAram (thApam – shanka/chakram imprint on the shoulders,
puNdra – Urdhva puNdram, nAma – giving a dhAsya nAmam (name), manthra – the
rahasya thraya manthrams and yAga – thiruvArAdhanam procedure) to kOil aNNan and
divinely blesses him.
Immediately, mAmunigaL thinks about ponnadikkAl jIyar and points towards him and
announces in the big assembly “ponnadikkAl jIyar is like my life breath and well wisher.
Whatever glories I have, he should also get the same”. aNNan understands
mAmunigaL’s emotions and says “You should have made me a disciple of ponnadikkAl
jIyar” and mAmunigaL shows his special attachment towards aNNan saying “How can I
give up some one who is destined to me (by the divine orders of periya perumAL
himself)?”. AychiyAr’s son appAchiyAraNNA then raises and requests mAmunigaL to
make him a disciple of ponnadikkAl jIyar. mAmunigaL becomes very pleased and hails
him as “nam appAchiyAraNNAvO?” (Is this our appAchiyAraNNA?). mAmunigaL then
seats ponnadikkAl jIyar in his own simhAsanam (throne) and forcefully places the
shankam and chakram in his hands and asks him to perform pancha samskAram to
appAchiyAraNNA. ponnadikkAl jIyar at first humbly refuses, but mAmunigaL insists him
to do it as it will be very pleasing for him. After appAchiyAraNNA, his brother dhAsrathi
appai also becomes a sishya of ponnadikkAl jIyar. ponnadikkAl jIyar, out of humility
withdraws from the Asanam (seat) and offers his praNAmams to mAmunigaL out of
great respect. After that, aNNan’s brother kandhAdai appan and many others become
sishyas of mAmunigaL. At that time, periya perumAL‘s prasAdham arrives and
mAmunigaL accepts the same with great reverence. Everyone then goes to the temple
and performs mangaLAsAsanam and returns to the mutt for a grand
thadhIyArAdhanam.
One day, mAmunigaL hails the attachment of sudhdha sathvam aNNan towards kOil
aNNan. He also instructs ANda perumAL (who is a great scholar coming in the family
lineage of komANdUr iLayavilli AchAn) to become the sishya of aNNan and fully serve
aNNan in spreading the sath sampradhAyam.
eRumbi appA who is a relative of kOil aNNan, approaches mAmunigaL through the
purushakAram (recommendation) of kOil aNNan and becomes a dear disciple of
mAmunigaL.
periya jIyar arrives at kOil aNNan’s residence and thirumAlai thantha perumAL bhattar
arrives along with temple kainkaryaparars with periya perumAL‘s garlands and
prasAdham. Every one welcomes aNNan with great delight and mAmunigaL fully
blesses aNNan on his arrival. The srIvaishNavas mention to mAmunigaL that dhEva
perumAL glorified him as “aNNan jIyar”. mAmunigaL becomes very pleased hearing
that and says that he was blessed to have such connection with aNNan. prathivAdhi
bhayankaram aNNan highlights that aNNan jIyar sounds similar to sriya:pathi – just like
Towards the end of his time in this world, mAmunigaL was writing the vyAkyAnam for
AchArya hrudhayam with great personal discomfort. When aNNan goes and asks
mAmunigaL why he was putting himself under so much trouble, mAmunigaL
magnanimously replies that he is writing these commentaries for the benefit of his sons
and grandsons (future generations to come).
mAmunigaL was instrumental in re-establishing the rights and privileges for kOil aNNan
which were lost during the bad times of srIrangam when the invaders destroyed
everything.
eRumbi appA (another sishya of mAmunigaL) highlights a beautiful incident in his pUrva
dhinacharyA (a divine grantham narrating the daily activities of mAmunigaL) slOkam 4.
Simple translation: eRumbi appA to mAmunigaL – “Your highness is having your two
dear sishyas (kOil aNNan and kOil appan) on either side and holding on to them tightly
with your lotus like tender hands and walking with your tender (lotus) feet on mEdhinI
(earth)”.
For a sannyAsi who is fully realised – if he does not carry his thridhaNdam for
some reason – there is no defect.
A sannyAsi who is in constant meditation of bhagavAn, who is well-behaved and
who has properly heard the meanings of sAsthram from his AchAryas, one who
is knowledgable in bhagavAth vishayam and one who has control over his own
senses and the whole world – for such sannyAsis their thridhaNdam, etc., are not
required.
When prostrating before emperumAn fully, since the thridhaNdam may be a
hinderance to perform such full prostration, he may not carry the thridhaNdam at
that time.
Simple translation: If one takes shelter of kOil kandhAdai aNNan (who is most popular
due to his merciful nature), whatever may be his qualities, creed or nature - he will
become my master at once.
Works:
In the early part of his life, he lived in kAnchIpuram and was blessed by
vEdhAnthAchAryar. He studied under the guidance of kumAra nayanAchAryar (the son
of vEdhAnthAchAryar). He becomes a great scholar and wins over many scholars of
other sampradhAyams by his expertise in debating. He becomes to be known as
prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNA, highlighting his ability to bring terror in the minds of
the opponents by his ability to debate clearly and establish the sidhAntham.
One day, a srIvaishNava from srIrangam arrives at thirumalai. aNNA brings him to
emperumAn and arranges for his dharshan. After that aNNA hears from the
srIvaishNava about the glorious activities in srIrangam for srI ranganAthan, srI
ranganAchiyAr, AzhwArs and AchAryas. He also hears about the glories of maNavALa
mAmunigaL, his divine activities at srIrangam and becomes very attracted towards his
compassion, scholarship, etc. Subsequently a few days later, aNNA brings the
srIvaishNava to AkAsa gangai for his kainkaryam. Both on the way and during the
return, he fully drenches himself in mAmunigaL’s anubhavam through the srIvaishNava.
After reaching srIrangam, he goes to worship periya perumAL in proper order (ANdAL,
emperumAnAr, sEnai mudhaliyAr, etc leading up to periya perumAL and periya pirAtti).
But before having dharshan of periya perumAL, he observes mAmunigaL giving a divine
discourse on nammAzhwAr‘s thiruvAimozhi 4.10 padhigam – onRum dhEvum. AzhwAr
establishes bhagavAn’s supremacy in archAvathAram specifically in Athi nAthan
emperumAn of AzhwAr thirunagari. aNNA prostrates in front of the gOshti and
mAmunigaL joyfully embraces aNNA and enquires about the well-being of him.
mAmunigaL reveals that he is very happy to meet aNNA. mAmunigaL lectures the first 3
pAsurams of the padhigam and stops at that. A visually ecstatic aNNA being amazed at
mAmunigaL‘s expertise in ubhaya vEdhAntham (samskritha vEdhAntham and dhrAvida
vEdhAntham) says that unless he becomes a sishya of mAmunigaL he cannot get the
full mercy of mAmunigaL and understand these most important principle of “supremacy
in archAvathAram” clearly. mAmunigaL stops the lecture and brings him over to periya
perumAL. periya perumAL blesses aNNA with thIrtham, srI satagOpan, garlands, etc.,
and speaks to aNNA through the archaka. He says “Oh prathivAdhi
bhayankarAchAryar! Remember, once you brought water from AkAsa gangai in
thirumalai, you heard the glories of mAmunigaL and automatially the water became
pure with divine fragrance. You have come here to perform an act that will give pleasure
to me – you will now have the unique and divine relationship with mAmunigaL” and
points him towards mAmunigaL. periya jIyar then leaves to his mutt after that.
aNNA being very pleased goes to kanthAdai aNNan’s residence and both aNNA and
kanthAdai aNNAn pay mutual obeisances as it is the normal practice. “vaishNavO
vaishNavam dhrustvA dhandavath praNamEdh bhuvi” says sAsthram – when a
vaishNava meets another vaishNava mutual prostration must happen. They enquire
about the spiritual well-being of each other and enter the residence of aNNan.
Incidentally, ponnadikkAl (vAnamAmalai) jIyar was also there at that time. aNNA
glorifies ponnadikkAl jIyar as “aruL koNdAdum adiyavar” (kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu – 7) –
one who is constantly engaged in enjoying/glorifying the mercy of mAmunigaL and
After returning to srIrangam, once, mAmunigaL invites aNNA and instructs him to teach
srI bhAshyam to kanthAdai aNNan, pOrERRu nAyanAr, anantthayyanappai,
emperumAnAr jIyar nAyanAr, kanthAdai nAyan and all. mAmunigaL then blesses aNNA
with the title “srIbhAshyAchAryar” and anoints him as the leader of srIbhAshya
simhAsanam.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of prathivAdhi bhayankaram
aNNan. He was a great scholar in ubhaya vEdhAntham, fully situated in AchArya nishtai
and was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit
of such bhAgavatha nishtai.
When he returns to his home town, in the morning after completing his anushtAnams,
he tries to open the kOvil AzhwAr (thiruvArAdhanam room) and his thiruvArAdhana
perumAL chakkaravarthi thirumagan (sri rAman) does not let him open the doors. Out of
sorrow and anxiety he does not take any food and goes to sleep. In his svapnam,
chakkaravarthi thirumagan appears and instructs him to take shelter of maNavALa
mAmunigaL. He says mAmunigaL is none other than AdhisEshan who descended as
iLaya perumAL during rAmAvathAram. He says now mAmunigaL has appeared again to
give benediction to the suffering samsAris. He instructs him to go and take shelter of
mAmunigaL and develop proper thathva jnAnam. Hearing this eRumbiappA runs back
to srirangam and with the purushakAram of kOil kandhAdai aNNan, he takes shelter of
maNavALa mAmunigaL and eventually becomes one of the ashta-dik-gajangaL.
eRumbiappA stays with mAmunigaL for some time, learns all the rahasya granthams
and finally returns to his village and continues his kainkaryam there. He is constantly
thinking about his AchAryan and compiles pUrva and uththara dhinacharyai (which
summarizes mAmunigaL’s daily activities) and sends them to mAmunigaL through a
srivaishnava. mAmunigaL is very pleased to see eRumbiappA’s nishtai and glorifies
eRumbiappA hears the news about mAmunigaL reaching paramapadham and is filled
with the sorrow of separation from his AchAryan. He glorifies the benedictions that was
given to him by his AchAryan and prays to emperumAn to accept him also as soon as
possible.
It is stated by our pUrvAchAryas that, one should not eat prasAdham without chanting
pUrva and uththara dinacharyais (remembering the most exalted/uncomparable lifestyle
of maNavALa mAmunigaL). It is such wonderful composition which makes even a stone
melt after hearing these dinacharyais. The dinacharyais (text) can be downloaded in
different languages from http://acharya.org/sloka/erumbiyappa/index.html.
appiLLai – a portrait
thirunakshathram: unknown
Works: vyAkyAnam for all thiruvanthAdhis in iyarpA, vyAkyAnam for thiruvirutham (first
15 pAsurams), vyAkyAnam for yathirAja vimsathi, vAzhi thirunAmams
mAmunigaL resides in srIrangam per periya perumAL‘s orders and spends his time
spreading the glories of our sath sampradhAyam. Seeing his greatness, many AchArya
purushas and scholars become his sishyas.
eRumbi appA visits srIrangam and becomes a sishya of mAmunigaL. He stays with
mAmunigaL for some time and wants to leave srIrangam. He wants to return to eRumbi
(his native village) after serving mAmunigaL for some time. He sees some inauspicious
signs/omens, so he does not leave. When he comes back to mAmunigaL, mAmunigaL
says “You wait and see – something auspicious is going to happen. We will let you
leave after that”. Others hearing this become ecstatic and are waiting for the auspicious
incident.
At that time, appiLLai and appiLLAr arrive at srIrangam with their families and
associates to worship srIranganAthan. Though they have heard about mAmunigaL they
dont have great attachment towards him. Being great scholars, they arrive with their
sishyas and great wealth (acquired from winning debates) at the banks of cauvery river
and stay put there for a couple of days. While staying there, they hear about the glories
of mAmunigaL and hear that many great personalities such as kandhAdai aNNan,
eRumbi appA, etc have taken shelter of mAmunigaL. They become amazed and
wonder if such great AchAryas can become sishyas of mAmunigaL. appiLLAr knowing
eRumbi appA‘s expertise in sAsthram, wonders if such experts in sAsthram takes
shelter of mAmunigaL there must be something special in him. appiLLAr then goes
inside srIrangam with his close associate who is intelligent and goes near jIyar’s mutt.
Staying outside, he sends his associate inside and asks him to announce that
“appiLLAn has arrived” and if eRumbi appA is present in the gOshti he will recognize
him and welcome him. His associate goes inside, spots eRumbi appA and says
“appiLLAn has arrived” and hearing that eRumbi appA feels happy and thinks that “this
is a good dawn for appiLLAr”. eRumbi appA comes out immediately to meet
appiLLAr. appiLLAr notices the shankam (conch) and chakram (disc) marks in the
shoulders of eRumbi appA and understands that he has recently become a sishya of
mAmunigaL. appiLLAr offers his obeisances to eRumbi appA and they both enquire
their mutual well-being. eRumbi appA explains the whole set of incidents through which
emperumAn directed him to become the sishya of mAmunigaL. appiLLAr slowly realises
the glories of mAmunigaL and tells eRumbi appA that appiLLai and many others have
arrived and they are waiting at the banks of cauvery. He also requests eRumbi appA to
visit them all (to explain the glories of mAmunigaL and reform them all). eRumbi appA
feeling delighted to hear appiLLAr‘s intentions, goes to vAnamAmalai jIyar and informs
him. He requests vAnamAmalai jIyar to bless him to reform everyone to accept
In the meantime vAnamAmalai jIyar goes to mAmunigaL and informs him about the
arrival of the great scholars appiLLAr and appiLLai. He tells mAmunigaL that they are
ready for AchArya sambandham. It is highlighted that there are 6 things that happen
before AchArya sambandham and this principle is explained in the following slOkam.
:
:
At first, as bhagavAn is kind-hearted, he looks out for the well being of every one.
Second, there is incidental desire/action for goodness.
Third, bhagavAn‘s merciful vision falls on the jIvAthmA.
Fourth, jIvAthmA manifests adhvEsham – he does not stop bhagavAn‘s mercy.
Fifth, jIvAthmA manifests Abhimukyam – he turns towards bhagavAn.
Sixth, he gets into discussion of bhagavath vishayam with bhAgavathas who will
promptly reform him and send him to an AchAryan.
ponnadikkAl jIyar says to mAmunigaL that they have been blessed with discussions
with eRumbi appA and they have all the qualification to become your sishyas. So, you
too, who are constantly thinking about the upliftment of jIvAthmAs should accept them
and bless them to fulfill the desire of eRumbi appA and myself. mAmunigaL accepts his
request and says “emperumAnAr has revealed his divine heart to me” and says
to ponnadikkAl jIyar that one of them will have his dhAsya nAmam (name after
panchasamskAram) of emperumAnAr. ponnadikkAl jIyar seeks the permission of
mAmunigaL to go and welcome
them and mAmunigaL accepts for that. ponnadikkAl jIyar sends a srIvaishNava to
appiLLAr to inform about their arrival.
Hearing about the arrival of ponnadikkAl jIyar and other sishyas of mAmunigaL,
appiLLAr becomes ecstatic and asks his associates to spread his favourite green shawl
on the ground to have ponnadikkAl jIyar and others step on it, collect the dust of the
lotus feet and bring him the same to decorate his head with that. He then brings fruits
and thAmbUlam (beetle leaves and nuts) and welcomes ponnadikkAl jIyar with prayers.
He offers his full obeisances and accepts the dust of their lotus feet on his head. After
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of appiLLai. He was very dear to
mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such abhimAnam
of AchAryan.
appiLLai’s thaniyan:
appiLLAr – a portrait
thirunakshathram: unknown
mAmunigaL resides in srIrangam per periya perumAL‘s orders and spends his time
spreading the glories of our sath sampradhAyam. Seeing his greatness, many AchArya
purushas and scholars become his sishyas.
appiLLAr was a great vidhwAn who won over many scholars in northern part of
bhAratha dhEsam. He was filled with pride about his knowledge and arrives at eRumbi
to debate with eRumbi appA. But, seeing eRumbi appA‘s greatness, he submits to him
and learns the essential principles from him. After a few days, he decides to leave.
While sending him off, eRumbi appA asks where he was going. appiLLAr says, he is
planning to go to srIrangam to debate with jIyar (mAmunigaL). eRumbi appA wanting to
give good advice to him, says “You should not do that. I know the glories of jIyar. He
studied srI bhAshyam under kidAmbi nAyanAr in kAnchIpuram. At that time kidAmbi
nAyanAr asked me to enquire previous lessons from jIyar to verify jIyar’s memory and I
was amazed to his sharp intellect. He is well aware of the entire principles. No one can
debate with him. More over he is a leader among sannyAsis and the one who
rejuvenates srIvaishNava sampradhAyam. We should only have reverence towards
him. I will explain more about him in the future”. Hearing this appiLLAr leaves eRumbi
with some understanding about mAmunigaL.
After that eRumbi appA visits srIrangam and becomes a sishya of mAmunigaL. He
stays with mAmunigaL for some time and wants to leave srIrangam. He wants to return
to eRumbi (his native village) after serving mAmunigaL for some time. He sees some
inauspicious signs/omens, so he does not leave. When he comes back to mAmunigaL,
mAmunigaL says “You wait and see – something auspicious is going to happen. We will
let you leave after that”. Others hearing this become ecstatic and are waiting for the
auspicious incident.
At that time, appiLLai and appiLLAr arrive at srIrangam with their familes and associates
to worship srIranganAthan. Though they have heard about mAmunigaL they dont have
great attachment towards him. Being great scholars, they arrive with their sishyas and
great wealth (acquired from winning debates) at the banks of cauvery river and stay put
there for a couple of days. While staying there, they hear about the glories of
mAmunigaL and hear that many great personalities such as kandhAdai aNNan, eRumbi
appA, etc have taken shelter of mAmunigaL. They become amazed and wonder if such
great AchAryas can become sishyas of mAmunigaL. appiLLAr knowing eRumbi appA‘s
expertise in sAsthram, wonders if such experts in sAsthram takes shelter of mAmunigaL
there must be something special in him. appiLLAr then goes inside srIrangam with his
In the meantime vAnamAmalai jIyar goes to mAmunigaL and informs him about the
arrival of the great scholars appiLLAr and appiLLai. He tells mAmunigaL that they are
ready for AchArya sambandham. It is highlighted that there are 6 things that happen
before AchArya sambandham and this principle is explained in the following slOkam.
:
:
At first, as bhagavAn is kind-hearted, he looks out for the well being of every one.
Second, there is incidental desire/action for goodness.
Third, bhagavAn‘s merciful vision falls on the jIvAthmA.
Fourth, jIvAthmA manifests adhvEsham – he does not stop bhagavAn‘s mercy.
Fifth, jIvAthmA manifests Abhimukyam – he turns towards bhagavAn.
Sixth, he gets into discussion of bhagavath vishayam with bhAgavathas who will
promptly reform him and send him to an AchAryan.
Hearing about the arrival of ponnadikkAl jIyar and other sishyas of mAmunigaL,
appiLLAr becomes ecstatic and asks his associates to spread his favourite green shawl
on the ground to have ponnadikkAl jIyar and others step on it, collect the dust of the
lotus feet and bring him the same to decorate his head with that. He then brings fruits
and thAmbUlam (beetle leaves and nuts) and welcomes ponnadikkAl jIyar with prayers.
He offers his full obeisances and accepts the dust of their lotus feet on his head. After
enquiries about mutual well-being, ponnadikkAl jIyar brings everyone to kOil aNNan‘s
thirumALigai (residence). kOil aNNan elaborately explains mAmunigaL‘s glories, that he
is the re-incarnation of srI rAmanuja himself. Hearing this, appiLLAr and appiLLAi wants
to take shelter of mAmunigaL and they all reach jIyar mutt with fruits, thAmbUlam and
many other offerings. They reach thirumalai AzhwAr maNdapam where mAmunigaL is
seated in a radiant manner. mAmunigaL looks in a unique shining form with beautiful
and broad shoulders, chest, eyes, etc. He is wearing clean saffron clothes and holding
on to his thridhaNdam. With a beautiful smile on his face, he welcomes everyone.
Seeing this beautiful form, appiLLai and appiLLAr falls at his lotus feet and wait for his
acknowledgement. mAmunigaL affectionately accepts their offerings and explains them
the divine essential principles which amazes the two great scholars. They immediately
request mAmunigaL to perform pancha samskAram to them. mAmunigaL accepts their
request, performs pancha samskAram and accepts them as his disciples. He then
brings them to periya perumAL‘s sannidhi in the proper sequence (This is the sequence
mAmunigaL follows while going for his mangaLAsAsanam at srIrangam temple as
outlined in pUrva dhinacharyai – ANdAL, emperumAnAr, nammAzhwAr, sEnai
mudhaliAr, garudAzhwAr, srI ranganAthan, srI ranganAchiyAr, paramapadha nAthan)
and submits the great scholars to emperumAn. After mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn,
they return to the mutt and appiLLai and appiLLAr accepts the food remnants of
mAmunigaL as stated in the sAsthram that a sishya should accept food remnants of his
AchArya.
appiLLAr is given the responsibility of taking care of jIyar mutt’s all daily activities such
as thadhIyArAdhanam, etc. Just like kidAmbi AchAn served emperumAnAr by fully
taking care of mutt responsibilities, mAmunigaL was served by appiLLAr.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of appiLLAr. He was very dear to
mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such abhimAnam
of AchAryan.
appiLLAr’s thaniyan:
Through the divine will of bhagavAn, kOil kandhAdai aNNan (a prominent AchArya
coming in the lineage of mudhaliyANdAn) becomes the sishya of mAmunigaL and goes
on to become one of the ashta dik gajas (eight prominent leaders appointed by
mAmunigaL for sath sampradhAya pravarththanam) of mAmunigaL. When he comes to
take shelter of mAmunigaL’s lotus feet, he brings along many of his relatives and all of
them become sishyas of mAmunigaL. One such brother of him is kOil kandhAdai appan
who is blessed by mAmunigaL at that time. From his thanian we can understand that he
was fully situated in charama parva nishtai (serving bhAgavathas and AchAryas).
eRumbi appA (another sishya of mAmunigaL) highlights a beautiful incident in his pUrva
dhinacharyA (a divine grantham narrating the daily activities of mAmunigaL) slOkam 4.
Simple translation: eRumbi appA to mAmunigaL – “Your highness is having your two
dear sishyas (kOil aNNan and kOil appan) on either side and holding on to them tightly
with your lotus like tender hands and walking with your tender (lotus) feet on mEdhinI
(earth)”.
For a sannyAsi who is fully realised – if he does not carry his thridhaNdam for
some reason – there is no defect.
A sannyAsi who is in constant meditation of bhagavAn, who is well-behaved and
who has properly heard the meanings of sAsthram from his AchAryas, one who
is knowledgable in bhagavAth vishayam and one who has control over his own
senses and the whole world – for such sannyAsis their thridhaNdam, etc., are not
required.
When prostrating before emperumAn fully, since the thridhaNdam may be a
hinderance to perform such full prostration, he may not carry the thridhaNdam at
that time.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of kOil kandhAdai appan. He
was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of
such abhimAnam of AchAryan.
This yathirAja jIyar mutt is very unique in the sense that, this is one of the very few
mutts established in AzhwAr/AchArya avathAra sthalams for performing kainkaryams at
From his thanian we can understand that he had wonderful relationship with
mAmunigaL and other AchAryas such as ponnadikkAl (vAnamAmalai) jIyar, koil
kanthAdai aNNan and dhoddAchAryar. yathirAja jIyar studied under the lotus feet of
these many great AchAryas.
From his vAzhi thirunAmam we can understand that he had great attachment towards
emperumAnAr. His vAzhi thirunAmam also closely resembles mAmunigaL‘s vAzhi
thirunAmam.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of srIperumbUthUr Adhi yathirAja
jIyar. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get bhagavath/bhAgavatha/AchArya
kainkaryam.
Sources: yathirAja jIyar mutt thanian and vAzhi thirunAmam book, yathIndhra pravaNa
prabhAvam
Born in srIrangam, he was named varadharAjan by his father siRRaNNar. He was born
in the glorious vAdhula lineage of mudhaliyANdAn and is 9th in the lineage of ANdAn
famly. He is also the son of AychiyAr who is the daughter of thirumanjanam appA. He
was named by appAchiyAraNNA by maNavALa mAmunigaL who consider him very
dear and hailed him as “nam appAchiyAraNNAvO” ( –
Is this our appAchiyAraNNA?). He is also the dear sishya of ponnadikkAl jIyar and is
hailed as the lotus feet of ponnadikkAl jIyar (just like ponnadikkAl jIyar is hailed as the
lotus feet of mAmunigaL).
thrirumanjanam appA was a self-less kainkaryaparar at srIrangam periya kOil and had
great attachment towards mAmunigaL. Understanding mAmunigaL’s glories, he
regularly followed mAmunigaL while mAmunigaL went for his bathing everyday. He
would bath in the water that flows from where mAmunigaL bathes and he becomes
Once when mAmunigaL was going for his bathing. At that time, it starts raining. So, he
takes shelter at the front porch of a vaishNava house. The lady of the house comes out
rushing seeing jIyar and prepares a seat for him to sit. She also takes the wet pAdhukas
(sandals) of mAmunigaL, places them at her head with the water dripping from them.
She then wipes off the water and places the same again on her head with great
devotion. By that contact, she becomes fully blessed and wants to accept mAmunigaL
as her AchArya. When jIyar asks her about her identity, she reveals that her name is
“Achi” she is the daughter of thirumanjanam appA and mAmunigaL was happy to hear
about her connection with thirumanjanam appA. She also says that she is married to
kandhAdai siRRaNNar (mudhaliyANdAn lineage). When the rain stops, mAmunigaL
leaves from there to cauvery.
After some time, she reveals her desire to her father and her father arranges for her
pancha samskAram by mAmunigaL in a secret fashion (since she was married into an
AchArya purusha family, she was scared to do it publicly). While mAmunigaL hesitates
initially due to her existing sambandham (connections), seeing her extreme devotion,
she performs pancha samskAram for her.
Eventually, most of the kandhAdai family AchAryas take shelter of mAmunigaL through
the divine arrangement of emperumAn. kOil kandhAdai aNNan who is the main
AchArya sees a divine dream which guides him to approach mAmunigaL
through ponnadikkAl jIyar and takes shelter of him. He brings along most of the
AchArya purushas of kandhAdai thiruvamsam and they all take shelter of mAmunigaL.
After performing pancha samskAram to kOil aNNan and others, mAmunigaL reveals his
divine attachment towards ponnadikkAl jIyar. He says to everyone in the gOshti that
“ponnadikkAl jIyar is my life breath and well-wisher. Whatever glories are present for
me, he should also have the same. Just like I now have the connection (as AchArya) for
the descendants of mudhaliyANdAn, he should also have some sishyas from the same
family”. kOil aNNan, understanding the divine emotions of mAmunigaL, at once says
“You should have shown me the lotus feet of ponnadikkAl jIyar and I would have taken
shelter” and mAmunigaL replies “How can I give up, what is to be accomplished by
me?”. kOil aNNan then looks around his relatives and appAchiyAraNNA stands up and
humbly says “Please give me the shelter our lord vAnamAmalai rAmAnuja jIyar“. jIyar
becomes very pleased and says “nam appAchiyAraNNAvO?” (Is this our
appAchiyAraNNa?). mAmunigaL raises from him Asanam and asks ponnadikkAl jIyar to
sit in his own Asanam and hands over thiruvAzhi (chakkaram) and thiruchangu (sangu)
and instructs him to perform pancha samskAram to appAchiyAraNNA. ponnadikkAl jIyar
at first refuses to do that out of humility but mAmunigaL insists that he must do that
Once when mAmunigaL goes on thiruvEnkata yAthrai, all his sishyas accompany him.
They first reach kAnchipuram and perform mangaLAsAsanam to dhEva perumAL. At
that time jIyar and his entourage worships dhEva perumAL’s vaikAsi mahOthsavam and
perform mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn in garuda vAhanam.
At that time, mAmunigaL invites appAchiyAraNNA and reminds him about his
responsibility to return to kAnchipuram. appAchiyAraNNA reveals his sorrow in leaving
the wonderful company of srIvaishNava gOshti at the lotus feet of mAmunigaL.
mAmunigaL understanding appAchiyAraNNA’s emotions, brings him over to his
perumAL sannidhi. He was having a sombu (small pot) which was named “srI
rAmAnujam” but he handed over the same to ponnadikkAl jIyar who kept that in a
basket and worshipped the same with devotion everyday as prasAdham of his AchArya.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of appAchiyAraNNA. He was
very dear to mAmunigaL and his AchAryan ponnadikkAl jIyar. Let us pray at his lotus
feet that we too get a little bit of such abhimAnam of our AchAryan.
appAchiyAraNNA’s thaniyan:
AchAryan: satakOpAchAryar
He was a great scholar and a great historian as well. Not much is known about his life.
But his works are of great importance to our sampradhAyam.
His yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam brings out the glorious life history of periyavAchAn
piLLai, vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai, piLLai lOkAchAryar, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr, thiruvAimozhi piLLai and maNavALa mAmunigaL among few others.
mAmunigaL's life history is depicted in a detailed manner and his many glorious
instructions are narrated beautifully in this grantham as well.
Both rAmAnujArya dhivya charithai and yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam are filled with
so many thamizh pAsurams (poems) which show his deep knowledge in thamizh.
He has done a beautiful vyAkyAnam for viLAnchOlai piLLai's saptha kAthai. saptha
kAthai brings out the essence of piLLai lOkAchAryar's srIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya
sAsthram, i.e., AchArya nishtai.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of piLLai lOkam jIyar. He has
done great favours to the srIvaishNava sampradhAyam by writing detailed
commentaries for the srIsUkthis of our pUrvAchAryas and also recorded the illustrious
lives of emperumAnAr and maNavALa mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we
also develop such attachment towards emperumAnAr and mAmunigaL.
He was most intelligent and completed his own yajUr vEdha shAkais by the time he
became 15 years old along with completing tharkam, vyAkaraNam, mImAmsam,
sAnkhyam, pAthanjali yOgam, etc and became an expert in jyOthisham, sangItham,
bharatha nAtyam, etc. By the time he became 20 years old, he was an expert and
authority in all sAsthrams. He also learns rahasya granthams, etc., from his father and
started writing divine literature establishing the essential principles of our sath
sampradhAyam. He also learnt under vAdhUla varadhAchAryar and srIrangAchAryar
(who went on several dhivyadhEsa yAthrais and defeated many pseudo-scholars in
debates).
He lived for a very short period of 51 years and ascended to paramapadham on Ishwara
year, ippasi month, shukla paksha chathurdhasi.
One of his most important works is the arumpadham (detailed commentary) for
mAmunigaL‘s vyAkyAnam for piLLai lOkAchAryar‘s srIvachana bhUshaNam. His other
grantham, bhakthisArOdhayam beautifully depicts the life of thirumazhisai AzhwAr.
Works:
In his short life span, he has contributed quite a bit of literary works. Here is the list of
his works:
1. srI bhakthisArOdhayam
2. vEdhavalli sathakam
3. hEmalathAshtakam
4. abIshta dhaNdakam
5. suka sandhEsam
Sishyas: Many
His parents performed all applicable vaidhIka samskArams for him at the right ages.
Even at a young age, he had great attachment towards emperumAn. In his childhood,
He was always playing with divine vigrahams of emperumAn and showed great
attachment towards bhagavath vishayam.
After some time, his father wanted to look for a bride for him to have him married. His
father set out on a journey and krishNamAchAryar accompanied him in the journey. On
the way, he observes a couple with their child also travelling at the same time. He sees
that the husband is carrying lots of luggage and the child as well and is often seen
quarelling with the wife but was also being submissive towards her due to his
attachment towards her. krishNamAchAryar was struck with the miseries of married life
and at once calls out his father and says that he never wants to get married. He was
then blessed with AchArya sambandham when his AchAryan visits his village
(kappiyamUr). kOil kanthAdai rangAchAryar performs pancha samskAram to him and
teaches the essential principles of sath sampradhAyam. He also starts going to many
yAthrais along with his AchAryan and serves him constantly.
Once when he was in thiruvEnkatam, embAr appears in his dream and invites him to
madhuramangalam and instructs him to bring a shawl as he was feeling very cold.
krishNamAchAryar goes to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn to request his permission to leave
and thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn blesses with his own shawl which is carried by him and
submitted to embAr at madhuramangalam. Subsequently, by the grace of embAr,
krishNamAchAryar develops great desire to accept sannyAsAsramam. He returns to
thiruvEnkatam and requests vakuLAbharaNa jIyar (periya jIyar) to bless him with
sannyAsAsramam. vakuLAbharaNa jIyar feels krishNamAchAryar is too young and
informs him to wait for some more time. But krishNamAchAryar insists that by the grace
of embAr he has become totally detached and cannot continue without the
sannyAsAsramam. vakuLAbharaNa jIyar then says, if perumAL sanctions it, he will
proceed. jIyar then leaves to thirumalai and on his way he observes a properly prepared
thridhaNdam and collects that. When he lies down to rest, emperumAn appears in his
dream and instructs him to bless krishNamAchAryar with that thridhaNdam and crown
him with sannyAsAsramam.
periya jIyar then happily invites him and blesses him with sannyAsAsramam. Since
vakuLAbharaNa jIyar knew the great attachment of krishNamAchAryar towards
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, he names krishNamAchAryar as thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja jIyar.
He returns to madhuramangalam and serves embAr for some time and becomes to be
popularly known as madhuramangalam embAr jIyar.
Several srIvaishNavas approached him and studied the pure principles of our sath
sampradhAyam during his times at srIperumbUthUr. He expertly explained the
principles in our pUrvAchArya srIsUkthis and nurtured many vidhwAns (scholars) during
his time.
He lived for a short period of time (48 years) in this leelA vibhUthi and ascended to
paramapadham on vishu varsham thai month krishNa paksham thrayOdhasi thithi.
One of his most important works is the arumpadham (detailed explanations) for
mAmunigaL‘s vyAkyAnam for piLLai lOkAchAryar‘s srIvachana bhUshaNam. Not only
he wrote a commentary for the magnum opus of our sath sampradhAyam (srIvachana
bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram) , he also lived a life of total dedication to
bhagavath/bhAgavatha kainkaryam as highlighted in srIvachana bhUshaNam. He had
also written several other granthams to establish the principles of our sath
sampradhAyam.
He also explained the structure of the brahmANdam very nicely based on the
descriptions in vishNu purANam, thathva thrayam, yathIndhram matha dhIpikA, etc.
Works:
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of appan thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja
embAr jIyar. He was a great scholar and has contributed greatly to our sampradhAyam
through his literary works. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
gyAnam/bhakthi in bhagavath/bhAgavatha/AchArya vishayam.
Simple translation: I worship our guru paramparai which starts with srIman nArAyaNan
(who is the husband of srI mahAlakshmi), has nAthamunigaL and yAmunAchAryar in
the middle and ends with my own AchArya. For AzhwAn, asmadhAchArya means
emperumAnAr (srI rAmAnujar) who was his own AchArya and for all of us its own
samAsrayaNa AchAryan (the one who performs pancha samskAram to us).
:
இ :
: :
இ
I worship srI ranganAchiyAr whose eyebrow movements (her desire and reaction
revealed through that) determines the fate of jIvAthmAs (whether one is rich or poor,
learned or illiterate, etc).
vishwaksEnar is the one who controls all jIvAthmAs and achEthanams (matter) through
the powers given by emperumAn, after letting the beautiful moon of srI rangam (periya
perumAL – srI ranganAthan) enjoy divine pastimes with srI ranganAchiyAr. We accept
such vishwaksEnar as our sole refuge.
: :
I worship maNakkAl nambi who is named srI rAma misra and was greatly intelligent in
easily reforming the princely yAmunAchArya simply by giving him thUthuvaLai leaves.
I worship yAmunAchAryar by whose mercy my defects have been removed and I have
become an identifiable object, i.e., previously I was like asath (matter) and now I have
realized that I am sath (soul) after meditating on the lotus feet of yAmunAcharya.
I take shelter at the lotus feet of srI rAmAnuja who out of great attachment for the
lotus/golden feet of achyutha (srIman nArAyaNa) considers everything else as a blade
of grass (not worthy), who is my AchArya, who is perfect in divine qualities such as
knowledge, devotion, etc., and who is an ocean of mercy.
gOvindha bhattar who is inseparable from srI rAmAnuja like the shadow of the lotus feet
and the one who realised his true nature by taking refuge at srI rAmAnuja’s lotus feet, is
the shade giving abode for me (where I can be relieved from my miseries). Let that
embAr be victorious.
:
:
My obeisances belong to vEdhAnthi nanjIyar whose nectarean words have filled the 3
worlds and who brings auspicious to all 3 worlds.
I take shelter of kalivairidhAsar (nampiLLai) who extracted (and is teaching) the glorious
essence of the nectarean vEdham from vEdhAnthi nanjIyar who himself is an ocean of
nectarean principles, who is filled with mercy (like a cloud filled with water).
I offer my obeisances to piLLai lOkAchAryar who is the son of srI krishNa (vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai), who has a fully qualified AchArya, who is the medicine for the
jIvAthmAs who are bitten by the poisonous snake called samsAram.
: :
I meditate on poigai AzhwAr who was born in the pond in thiruvekkA (kAnchIpuram) out
of a golden lotus flower and who lit the divine lamp using the radiant sun to have the
vision of srIman nArAyaNan.
Let madhurakavi AzhwAr be firmy established in my heart. He did not know any one
other nammAzhwAr, considered singing nammAzhwAr’s pAsurams as the only
enjoyable activity and naturally considered nammAzhwAr as his only master.
I bow my head down and worship kulasEkara AzhwAr in whose capital city there is
constant hailing about srIranga yAthrai (travelling to srIrangam).
I worship periyAzhwAr who proclaimed the essence of vEdham (without learning it from
an AchArya methodically – he was directly blessed by bhagavAn with divine
blemsishless knowledge) to win over pouch containing gold at the pAndiya king’s
இ இ :
I offer my obeisances to gOdhA dhEvi again and again. She is the one who woke up
krishNa who was resting on the breasts of nILA dhEvi, the one who announced her
pArathanthriyam (which is the ultimate principle highlighted in vEdham) to bhagavAn
himself and the one who fully enjoyed emperumAn who wore the garlands that were
once worn by her.
: :
I meditate on thirumangai AzhwAr who is named kalikanRi, who is a radiant sun among
poets and through whose radiant words the ignorance in the mind was dispelled
completely.
The AchAryas (who are not in OrANvazhi guru paramparai) include (but not limited to):
I constantly bow down at the lotus feet of kurugai kAvalappan who is greatly attached to
the lotus feet of nAthamunigaL, who has the great wealth of gyAna yOgam and bhakthi
yOgam and who is the best amongst yOgis.
I glorify thiruvarangapperumAL arayar who stayed like a beetle in the lotus feet of
maNakkAl nambi, who is the divine son of yAmunAchAryar, who is filled with auspicious
qualities, who was born by the divine grace of srI ranganAthan and who had srI
bhAshyakArar as his sishya.
We take refuge at the lotus feet of thirukkOshtiyUr nambi who is an ocean of nectar for
knowledge and devotion at the lotus feet of srIman nArAyaNan who is the consort of srI
mahAlakshmi and who is best among AchAryas.
I repeatedly worship srIsaila pUrNa who is the grand father of brahmA who is the grand
father of the entire creation (as nambi was called “father” by thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn who
is the father of brahmA), who is a wonderful AchArya for srI bhAshyakAra and who
instructed the deep meanings of vAlmIki rAmAyaNa to srI bhAshyakAra.
I worship the AchArya named thirumAlai ANdAn who expertly explained the divine
meanings of thiruvAimozhi which is hailed as dhrAvida vEdham to srI rAmAnuja muni
and who was most intelligent.
I worship thirukkachi nambi who is the object of srI varadharAja’s mercy, who is best
among vaishNavas, who was greatly respected by srI rAmAnuja muni and who was
flocked by many srIvaishNavas.
We offer our obeisances towards srIvathsAnga misra whose divine sthOthrams are like
mangaLasUthram for vEdham, i.e., they reveal that srIman nArAyaNan is the supreme
clearly.
I decorate my head with mudhaliyANdAn’s lotus feet. He is named dhAsarathi and srI
yathirAja’s sandals are named after him as mudhaliyANdAn.
I worship the most intelligent praNathArthihara guru who considered the lotus feet of srI
rAmAnuja as his means and ultimate goal.
I take shelter of vaduga nambi who is a dear sishya of emperumAnAr, who lived in
sALagrAmam and who was an expert in panchamOpAyam (AchArya nishtai).
I worship sOmAsiyANdAn who performed menial services (with great joy) to srI
rAmAnuja to sustain himself, who is an ocean of knowledge in srIbhAshyam and who is
named “srI rAma”.
I take shelter of piLLai uRangAvilli dhAsar who never sleeps, who holds bow in one
hand, who holds sword in another hand, who is like a magical pill (which converts iron
into gold when touched), who revealed the essential principles during his lifetime, who
has two nephews (who were great devotees), who managed srI rAmAnuja’s mutt and
who performs mangaLAsAsanam to srI ranganAthan.
:
:
:
My heart desires to become attached to srI vishNuchiththa. What is the use of anything
but those lotus feet? How would I have mastered yathirAja’s divine words had I not
taken shelter of those lotus feet of engaLAzhwAn?
I bow down to the AchArya named ananthAzhwAn who is the abode of all auspicious
qualities, who is the one who dispels the darkness of ignorance and who is the means
for the ones who have taken shelter of him.
I take shelter of srIranganAtha guru (amudhanAr) who was born on panguni hastham as
the son of rangAryar (aNi arangathamudhanAr) and who has taken shelter of srI
rAmAnuja’s lotus feet.
I take shelter of srI rAma piLLai (vEdha vyAsa bhattar) who is the grand son of srI rAma
misra (kUrathAzhwAr – AzhwAn’s father), who is the son of srIvathsAngar (AzhwAn)
and the younger brother of srI parAsara bhattar.
I take shelter of naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar who is greatly attached to the lotus feet
of nampiLLai, who lived in naduvil thiruvIdhi (a street in srIrangam), who is like a moon
for the ocean of kUrathAzhwAn’s clan.
azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr who is the son of srI krishNa (vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai) revealed the divine meanings of thiruvAimozhi (nammAzhwAr’s divine
heart) which are received through the AchArya paramparai.
I worship my most merciful AchAryan who extracts the essence of vEdham, who is like
a sun for the lotus of smruthi, who is eternally related to the lotus feet of srIman
nArAyaNan, who is an emperor of knowledge and is the dear son of abhyapradha rAjar
(periyavAchAn piLLai).
I surrender unto the lotus feet of vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar whose lotus
feet are like a boat that will deliver the jIvAthmAs who are drowning in the ocean of
samsAram.
I worship kUra kulOthama dhAsar who is the target of the mercy of piLLai lOkAchAryar,
who is a crown jewel that decorates the kauNdinya clan and who is the abode of all
auspicious qualities.
I worship nArAyaNa (viLAnchOlai piLLai) who was born on thulA (aippasi) month
ahirbhudhnya (uthrattAdhi) nakshathram, who is surrendered to piLLai lOkAchAryar and
who composed saptha kAthai (which is the essence of srI vachana bhUshaNam).
Let vEdhAnthAchArya live in my heart eternally. He is like a lion for the (opposing) poets
and debators, abode of knowledge, devotion, detachment (from worldly pleasures), etc.
and is known as vEnkatanAtha.
After (and during) the period of ManavALa mAmunigal, many glorious AchAryas lived in
our sampradhAyam including (but not limited to):
I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar who is like the imprints of mAmunigaL’s lotus feet and who
fully depends on mAmunigaL to establish his true nature (as a servant of mAmunigaL),
sustenance, activities, etc.
I worship dhEvarAja guru who is like a beetle in the lotus feet of mAmunigaL, who
blesses us with divine knowledge and is most auspicious in nature.
appiLLai
appiLLAr
I worship rAmAnujar (appiLLAr) who performed all kainkaryams to mAmunigaL and who
considered mAmunigaL as the only Lord and master.
I worship srInivAsAchAryar (kOil kanthAdai appan) who considers the lotus feet of
varadha nArAyaNa guru (kOil kanthAdhai aNNan) as the only means, who is the target
of the great compassion of mAmunigaL and who is an ocean of many auspicious
qualities which are like gems.
I worship piLLai lOkAchArya jIyar who is like a beetle at the divine lotus feet of srI
satagOpa guru and who is the author of yathIndhra pravaNam (which fully elaborates
the history of maNavALa mAmunigaL).
Sincere gratitude to puthUr srI .U.vE. krishNaswamy iyengar for thanian translations (all
of thanians with simple thamizh meanings are present in a his 6000 padi guru
paramparA prabhAvam, periya thirumudi adaivu and AchAryargaL vaibhavam
publishings). Thanks to srIperumbUthUr Nandakumar swamy for helping in thirumazhisai
aNNAvappangAr and srI perumbUthUr thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja (embAr) jIyar thanians.